By: Katie Priest, May 13, 2025
Cal Poly Pomona’s University Library will no longer have lecturer-level subject librarians after the end of the 2024-2025 academic year, leaving three colleges and at least 5,000 students without dedicated library support.
Specialized and in-depth instructional research support for the College of Environmental Design, the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences and the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture will not be available due to the decision to not renew the three lecturer level librarians’ contracts.
In a letter sent to affected faculty in CLASS, Hannah Cole, the subject librarian for the communication, English and modern languages, philosophy and theater and new dance departments, announced for a second time the librarians’ looming departure from CPP. In addition to Cole, Rayheem Eskridge — a subject librarian for the College of Environmental Design — and another lecturer librarian will not return to CPP, at the time of publication this librarian was not explicitly named nor was their specialization disclosed.
This news comes after The Poly Post reported on the possible departure of two subject librarians in October. According to Cole, this decision was ultimately reversed by Interim Dean Marla Peppers in favor of keeping the librarians after the departure of senior-level staff accounted for some salary savings .
“We were then told we aren’t sure if we’re going to be able to keep you,” Cole said. “Then we’re told that there were going to be pretty huge budget cuts coming to the library and that one of the areas was all three lecture-level faculty.”
The rationale behind the loss of librarians and whether it was tied to the California State University’s systemwide budget cuts was not elaborated on; Peppers said she would “not be making comments with regards to personnel issues.”
According to the most recent records the university shared with The Poly Post regarding the budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the University Library had an annual budget of $5.1 million. 
In an examination of publicly available CPP librarian salaries from 2023, the average salary for a lecturer subject librarian was $94,000, and the average tenured and tenure-track subject librarian made $143,000. When all available salaries were calculated, the total available salaries amounted to just over $855,000 out of the University Library budget.
The research and instruction subject librarians’ salaries for the year, in total, made up just under 17% of the total library budget.
“Our unit was trying to convince them to keep one lecture-level (librarian),” Cole said. “Could we do like three (librarians) but at 50%? Something that where we would still be working here in a part-time capacity, and they just said, ‘No. Absolutely not.’”
Students of the three colleges and the departments affected by this decision will feel the loss of subject librarians. Research and instruction librarians often provide tailored services to departments based on need, including classroom instruction, office hours, research and faculty support.
“They’re very, sorely needed,” said Anthony Acock, the chair of the Department of Art “Different faculty utilize the subject librarians, either more or less, depending on their pedagogical needs. “I use Rayheem a lot. I have him give a lecture to my foundation classes every fall, which is the freshman level, and how to utilize the library and best research practices.”
As it stands, the library is asking the remaining subject librarians to fill the gaps.
“I am collaborating with library faculty to ensure that there will be adequate liaison coverage for those areas where there may not be lecturer librarians moving forward,” Peppers said.
In her letter, Cole asked the affected departments to “be patient” with the remaining librarians who are unlikely “able to meet the instructional and research demand left behind.”
Feature image courtesy of Darren Loo