A decision on Senate House Library’s future has been “delayed to allow time for options to be developed in more detail” according to a statement released today by the University of London.

Senate House Library could be taken over by UCL, face severe cuts in services, become part of an expanded network of arts and humanities libraries – or simply make some efficiency savings.

A report on options for the library’s future – following the loss of £1.1m of annual funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England – was presented to UL’s Collegiate Council on December 12^th.

The report offered three options, each relating to both Senate House Library and the School of Advanced Studies libraries (together forming the University of London Research Library Services).

The first was a refocusing of current provision, introducing “efficiency changes” aiming to produce a reduction in SHL’s deficit “without a significant drop in the level of service.” An alternative version of this option would achieve a balanced budget through greater cuts to service provision. SHL currently runs at a loss of £1m annually.

The efficiency changes will be implemented immediately, but Collegiate Council voted to delay its final recommendation to allow further exploration of the other two options offered by the report.

The first, being developed by SAS, would develop ULRS as an extended network of arts and humanities libraries, working in collaboration with other research libraries.

The second, being developed by UCL, would see ULRS merge with UCL’s own library, with guarantees over access and services for other colleges.

SAS and UCL have been given a deadline of March 12^th 2009 to complete their proposals, to be submitted to the Collegiate Council in April 2009, with the council’s final recommendations to be considered by the Board of Trustees on May 13^th, 2009.

The immediate efficiency savings will be overseen by the Vice-Chancellor, two as-yet-unconfirmed Heads of Colleges, the Dean of SAS and the Director of ULRS.

Tags: CHEMS review, delay, Malcolm Grant, senate house library, SHL, ucl takeover

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 19:36 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.