UBC Library faces a financially “unsustainable situation,” according to Dr. Susan Parker, university librarian.
Parker said to the Senate on October 21 that the library is developing a long-term plan to address a precarious financial future due to purchasing issues and demand for electronic materials.
The vast majority of library materials are sold only in American dollars, which has resulted in financial loss for the library. In the 2019/2020 fiscal year, 85 per cent of UBC Library’s collections budget was converted to and spent in American dollars. Since the Canadian dollar is weaker, the library lost 17 per cent of its USD buying power.
“We are aware of the impact of inflation and the exchange rate on our purchasing power, and continue to work with the Provost to address these challenges moving forward. We are assessing the library’s long-term budgetary needs and developing a plan to enable a long-term financially sustainable position,” said Parker in a written statement to The Ubyssey.
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Dr. Eric Meyers, associate professor at the UBC School of Information, said that publishers have created challenges for Canadian libraries using “sneaky and predatory means,” for example, selling items on a subscription basis and bundling subscriptions together.
“By bundling the things that you desperately want with the things that you don’t want, and thus charging you a big price ... it puts the library at a disadvantage to bargain for better prices that would help them be more competitive with their weaker Canadian dollars,” said Meyers.
Due to physical locations closing in March due to COVID-19, there is an increased demand for electronic materials, which can be more costly compared to physical copies.
“It’s problematic because a lot of students and faculty don’t realize that the library is providing much more than just the digital items that they acquired through the library homepage,” Meyers said. Extra costs potentially include Google Scholar pages that lead readers to UBC e-links.
Costs may also stem from the need to sustain the UBC Library’s legacy of over 100 years of buying physical items.
Parker said at the Senate that the library is trying to balance needs for digital and physical materials. In a statement, she thanked Provost Andrew Szeri for his office’s financial support.
“We are very grateful for Prof. Szeri’s ongoing support in doing everything possible to stabilize and strengthen the library[’s] base operating budget, which includes planned funding increases outlined in the ‘Accelerate’ phase of the President’s Academic Excellence Initiative,” she said. “We are committed to supporting the community of scholars across UBC in the advancement of research, learning and scholarship.”
Meyers added that models such as those adopted by the University of California could be a solution. In protest against the expensive bundled subscriptions sold by publishers, the University of California has adopted a pay-per-article model that has shown “promising” early results.
Instead of buying and offering all articles to students, students identify specific articles they need for their work, and then request their library to buy them. It’s unclear how this could affect UBC Library usage. Meyers said there’s no perfect system the library could switch to.
Beyond collections, the library’s physical presence is still important. Parker said that the library has seen a 70 per cent increase in online inquiries this summer compared to last year. Libraries also provide study space for students who might not have a place to work, especially during COVID-19.
“Dr. Parker's in a very difficult position as the university librarian with budgets not going up but demands and costs skyrocketing. Dr. Parker has to figure out how they want to overcome that, and figure out where to best use the university's resources,” said Meyers.
This article was updated to clarify that the library saw a 70 per cent increase in online inquiries specifically.