DANGER! Pitt at work
by Mischa Gelman
(published 7/26/00)

   "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's one of the truest, most
logical cliches that you can find, a good guide on how best to proceed
with most matters. Unfortunately, the administration of the Health
Sciences Library System and School of Nursing did not operate under these
principles when they recently decided to close the nursing library
without allowing for student input. Instead, they seemed to work under a
different mantra - "The bottom line is the only line."
   The timing of the decision to close the library is highly suspicious -
in the middle of summer, when very few of the undergraduate nursing
students are present, nor a fair number of staff. As they are not present,
they are not able to complain about the maneuver - instead, they will
return from summer break to find that their library is no more. Many,
perhaps most, of the remaining students and professors tried to fight this
underhanded assault on an area devoted to their needs and interests.
They have offered their complaints, only to be ignored.
   Dean Rudy explained her reasons for wanting to close the library in an
email to staff (and curiously, not to students) - almost all of the
reasons are weak or faulty. I will address each point she raised, so that
those unfamiliar with the School of Nursing can understand what's going on
and why.
   She claims that students need to be exposed to "a broader array of
books and journals." Obviously, nursing students can and do use other
libraries already. Closing the nursing library REDUCES the range of books
and journals they have access to.
   The dean states that "Most doctoral students and faculty use Falk or
other libraries now." Great, but what about the undergrads? The grad
students? Why do they count for less than the doctoral students? Also,
many doctoral students have used the nursing library regularly - one
recent doctoral graduate, Wanida, practically lived in the nursing
library. Obviously she found it sufficient for her needs.
   The next point is that the reference librarian is underutilized. This
makes sense, as the library didn't have one for years - it didn't need
one. It was the fault of the Health Sciences Library System that an
unneeded staff member was added. Why punish the School of Nursing for
THEIR error?
   She states Falk's open more hours. How many nursing students need the
library at 7 in the morning or 11 at night? Not many, as is evidenced by
the lack of students at opening and closing times.
   She claims Falk has more resources for literature searches and
referencing. The only resource anyone uses is Ovid (which contains
Medline and Cinahl), which is just as accessible from the school of
nursing.
   Finally, she raises the issue of duplicate books and journals. This
leads to greater cost - now we finally see the REAL reason behind the
move. Anyhow, what's wrong with duplicate books and journals? Students
often need more than one copy of a book, especially if several are
researching the same topic for a paper. It's very handy to have multiple
copies of journals, as one is occasionally lost with time. Even the one
legitimate reason is flawed.
   If the nursing library closes, Falk will either need to expand and
remodel for the second time in three years, or a large part of the nursing
and medical collections will have to be discarded due to a lack of space.
Students will not be able to run up during break and quickly check a
reference, or get help from nursing students, who can better understand
the material they need than Falk staff. Nursing students would no longer
have easy access to course reserve books and articles (especially a
problem for the rare student who doesn't buy the course text, but utilized
a reserve copy). It is not a huge loss for the nursing students - it is an
inconvenience, and one that is both unnecessary and merely due to the
penny-pinching politics of Pitt.
   One wonders why our tuitions go up, yet attention to student opinion
goes down. Doesn't our opinion matter anymore?

   Mischa Gelman wants Dean Rudy to listen to students on this issue, as
she often does on others. He is a former employee of the nursing library
(Fall 1997 - Fall 1999) and has been employed by the School of Nursing for
the past three years.