BY WATCHING ADAMS STAFF – 2/29/16

On February 15th, the Associated Students and Faculty (AS&F) government at Adams State University (ASU) passed a resolution to prioritize funding for the ASU Nielsen Library. The resolution, which passed unanimously with a vote of 38-0, upholds that the library plays a central role in the academic success of ASU students. This resolution was drafted after Library Director Carol Smith had previously presented to AS&F on historically unprecedented short staffing and an increased demand on librarians leading to cutting library hours.

The resolution reads, in part:

“Knowing full well that budgets are tight across the board and many departments are faced with the predicament of frozen position(s), we believe that the library needs to be prioritized highly. High prioritization is necessary because the library directly impacts students and plays a large role in the success rate of both graduate and undergraduate programs. Currently, the frozen library position, User Experience Librarian, places an excessive burden on the remainder of the library staff and in turn reduces the quality of services they can provide.

Associated Students, & Faculty has the opportunity and means to voice the students’ current discontent with the situation at hand concerning our library at Adams State University. We as a student government have a responsibility to acknowledge and voice the students concern to administration, faculty, and the Board of Trustees. This document is a result of that responsibility, and we thank all those who take the time to read its contents.”

The full resolution is online here. It will now be sent to ASU President Beverlee McClure, executive team, and the Board of Trustees for further consideration.

For more on the selective practice of “freezing” positions at ASU, see A Very Slushy Hiring Freeze and more recently The Hiring Freeze is Now a Puddle.