By Katie Priest, Oct. 1, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona students will lose two assistant librarians at the end of the fall 2024 semester after former University Library Dean Pat Hawthorne decided to not renew their contracts, leaving nearly 2,800 students without a dedicated librarian.
Hannah Cole and Rayheem Eskridge, both assistant librarians, were told that their contracts would not be renewed. A decision they claim was one of the last made by Hawthorne before she left CPP in July for the University of Texas at San Antionio.
Eskridge, the subject librarian for the College of Environmental Design, was notified in a meeting June 26 that his contract would not be renewed, and his last day would be Dec. 20.
Hannah Cole, the subject librarian for the departments of communication, English and modern languages, philosophy and theater and new dance in the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, was notified Sept. 5 with an end date of Jan. 9.
The Poly Post contacted Hawthorne for comment, and Hawthorne stated via email, “You should direct your questions to the interim leadership for the University Library.”
Laura Massa acted as interim dean of the University Library and associate vice president of academic programs while a search went on for an interim. Marla E. Peppers was announced by provost and vice president for Academic Affairs Terri Gomez in an email to faculty and staff as the new interim dean Sept. 23 with a start date of Oct. 1.
“I cannot talk about personnel issues,” said Massa when asked about the situation.
Eskridge and Cole have tried to work with campus administration to maintain their positions with the University Library.
“I’m doing all that I can to stay here,” said Eskridge. “I’ve had a few conversations with the provost. I’ve reached out to Dr. Cheryl Koos, who is our lead in Academic Affairs. I’ve spoken with Dr. Laura Massa about the situation, and I have yet to receive the solution that I am hoping for that I’ve been requested.”
The decision has raised concerns for the remaining librarians on who will manage the gap for ENV and CLASS students.
The University Library currently has seven librarians for research and instruction services. Two for CLASS, one for engineering, one for ENV, one for the colleges of business administration and hospitality management, one for the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture and one for the College of Education and Integrative Studies.
The College of Science does not currently have a librarian, but according to Cole and Shonn Haren, an associate librarian covering the departments of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, one will be available sometime during the fall 2024 semester.
While this will provide coverage for all departments in the College of Science, Cole and Eskridge’s absences will leave eight departments without coverage. In CLASS, Haren is concerned about having to cover those gaps. The loss of Cole and Eskridge will leave the already–stretched library with six librarians for approximately 28,000 students.
“When you have every member of the of the public facing faculty already having significant coverage and responsibilities, I mean, I cover seven departments on my own,” said Haren. “We are not going to be able to absorb that.”
According to Poly Post calculations of the University Library statistics reports and California State University enrollment numbers for fall 2022, CPP ranks 20th out of all 23 CSU campuses for librarian-to-student ratio. CPP has 4.8 librarians per 10,000 students. Additionally, for the 2022 academic year, CPP had the fifth-highest enrollment of all CSU campuses.
If the decisions stand, there is significant concern from both librarians and faculty for the departments they are leaving behind. Raymond Kampf a professor in the Art department who teaches VCD 2370—Visual Thinking, a course where Eskridge is utilized in the department.
“Rayheem has been now fixture for us and I feel like losing him would be just crippling the department a little bit,” said Kampf. “When I was asking the students. I was complimenting them on how much better they were doing than the previous class, and I started asking them questions and I realized that the big difference was they had somebody who opened the library to them and really explained how to use the library properly.”
The College of Environmental Design wrote a letter in support of Eskridge signed by all four of the college’s department chairs and sent to incoming interim dean Peppers. Some faculty from CLASS also wrote a letter for Cole sent to the Provost.
Gomez responded to the letter signed by CLASS faculty via email, “Dear colleagues, thank you for your extraordinary show of support. While we can’t comment on personal issues please know your input matters.”
“We wanted it to be known that we value the labor that they have been doing, we are going to feel that loss, and that it’s going to be noticed, it’s going to impact our students in a detrimental way,” said Dana Marshall, associate professor of communication. “We felt that that was the least we could do to put our support out there as part of the process. No one consulted with us, no one asked us, but it definitely impacts us and so we wanted to at least let the administration know our stance on the subject.”
Research and instruction librarians like Cole and Eskridge often provide tailored services to departments based on need. This can include classroom instruction, office hours, research and faculty support.
Jeffery Ray is an assistant professor in the art department where a project in his VCD 1341A – Foundations in 4D Design Activity course utilizes Eskridge heavily.
“He was critical on the project, he was active, he was present,” said Ray “He had just wonderful energy. It’s almost like he reenergized a lot of us, so I was very upset to hear that he was going to be gone. And I just kind of say, isn’t there something else that we could do?”
Kampf wrote his own letter over the summer addressed to Hawthorne expressing concerns over the loss of Eskridge and the possibility of no longer having a librarian for ENV. Hawthorne replied via email, “Given the budget situation, we will not be able to renew the contract for Rayheem Eskridge. He will be with the library through December.”
According to the library statistics report CPP librarians held 448 instruction sessions for a total of 8694 students over the 2022-2023 academic year.
“It’s unfortunate for our students, the college of ENV has thousands of students; they deserve representation within the library,” said Eskridge. “They deserve an advocate for resources within the library. They deserve the information literacy instruction that the librarian provides to help them robustly approach the information environment.”
The potential loss of a librarian for the English and modern languages department has also raised concerns about students’ abilities to complete ENG 1000—English First Year Experience, ENG 1103—First Year Composition, ENG 1100—Stretch Composition and ENG 2105 Written Reasoning, all courses that fulfill GE area A2, a requirement of all first-year CPP students. According to Cole, the professors for these courses reach out for instructional support that is critical for the students.
“This level of loss, which leaves a bunch of students particularly and perhaps most worryingly, the students in English and modern languages without a subject librarian,” said Haren.
According to Haren, the Provost declined to intervene, citing not wanting to micromanage her deans and deferred to the next interim dean of the library.
“She stated that this was due to requirements made by the Office of the Provost for mandatory budget cuts due to the budget situation,” said Haren on why the decision to let two librarians go was made. “In a subsequent faculty discussion with the provost, Provost Gomez noted that she had made no such requirements to the dean.”
Gomez could not be reached in time for publication. The Poly Post has made a public records request of the University Library’s budget to verify these claims and is awaiting a response.
According to Library Statistic Reports from the California State University system for the 2022-2023 academic year, the 13 librarians of the University Library account for 31% of all salaries paid by the CPP library.
“While trying to be respectful of our administration and the decisions that they’re making and the understanding that we are in a budget crisis,” said Cole. “I’m also trying to fight for what I think is going to be the best for students.”
With the end of the semester not far off, there are concerns from librarians that both Cole and Eskridge will find new jobs before a decision is reached.
“This is leaving me with no other choice but to look for outside employment,” said Eskridge. “I don’t want to leave, and it won’t be my choice, but I certainly can’t allow myself to be caught on the back foot. I have to be looking for my next move.”
Featured image courtesy of Ryan Fogg