2017 Charleston Library Conference

While the past may be prologue, the future story of our libraries may be a tragedy, or perhaps just a mystery. Or one hopes, a happy ending - the story is now being written. Like many state university library systems, the three University of Alaska campus libraries are struggling with institutional downsizing, budget cuts, and branch closures. The State of Alaska is in the biggest recession since the 1980s, resulting in major reductions in legislative funding to higher education, significantly impacting university libraries. What’s different this time is the future story; as we reach the predicted end of oil there may never be a full economic recovery. How can libraries work together to create a new and different future for higher education on the Last Frontier?

This participatory presentation will focus on ways the three campus library systems are already working individually and cooperatively to find our way forward in this budget climate. We’ll discuss how top-down strategic planning, directed by higher administration, affects our collections, subscriptions, major purchases, consortial efforts, instruction programs, and more, while we likely move from three universities to one with three specialty campuses. Our libraries have always cooperated, but now we are challenged to figure out how our institutions can be best served by “one library,” what the components of that library should be, and where we all fit into that plan. Following the presentation, audience members will be invited to participate in an open discussion, sharing their own ideas and solutions, and will leave with ideas suitable for their own circumstances.