On the Current (and Future) State of the Tulane Law Library

One has to read through some 23 paragraphs of Shiny Happy People text in Jodi S. Cohen's Back to books in the bayou article published in yesterday's Chicago Tribune before coming across the following:

Among Tulane's losses are some 1,000 employees, about half of whom were laid off while the rest didn't return. What's more, university officials last month announced plans for the largest reinvention of the college in history, the full effects of which won't be known for years.

The graduate school lost several PhD programs, the medical school lost 180 doctors, the engineering school lost several majors, the athletic department lost eight teams, and the now-merged Newcomb College lost its all-female identity.

Frankly, I would expect more from the Chicago Tribune's higher education reporter because the real story lies is the issues surrounding this so-called "reinvention" of Tulane. See the University's plans.

First, we need to find answers to this question: Is the University restructuring mostly Katrina-related? Partially Katrina-related? "Vaguely" Katrine-related? Or is the University using "Katrina" to implement goals and plans that otherwise would have been difficult to execute without having a convenient excuse?

Second, what will the impact of this restructuring be on the quality of education offered by the University once this "reinvention" is complete? "Why, excellent of course!"

Third, what are the consequences to the University's workforce?

Relative to the consequences to the Law Library staff, here is what one person posted on a library listserv yesterday:

I just got off the phone with a friend from Tulane (who was in tears) and [the] news is true. I believe that 9 people were fired from the law library and 12 are left. It is  definitely a campus-wide situation and many from Tulane's main library have been fired also. People are scrambling to get health insurance and make other important life decisions. They have been told  that all non-essential personnel are being fired; length of service has nothing to do with the decision! How sad for us all.

Non-essential. Pleading poverty. This situation just does not pass my smell test.

The Law Library Before Katrina
The Law Library lost its director in 2004.  The committee, under the recommendation of one of its members, the University Librarian, declared its search a failure and appointed said University Librarian to run the operations of the Law Library, removing the law library's then-Head of Public Services as acting director.

The University Librarian's management has not been pro forma--leaving the law library to be run by the law librarians--but rather he has taken the opportunity to institute many changes.  Morale at the law library has been very low, which is very well known.  All this was before Katrina.

Immediately before Katrina, the Law Library had extended an job offer to a new head of access services, which it then withdrew.  It has since eliminated every department head, to wit: it now lacks its Director, Head of Public Services, Head of Access Services, and Head of Technical Services.  There appears to be no commitment to fill any of these positions.  Moreover, the University Librarian has decided to outsource all binding operations for all libraries (hence the firing of all those personnel), and there is talk about merging the cataloging and technical services.

So my question is do the actions at Tulane reasonably represent a sub rasa determination by relevant powers to subsume the law library into the operations of the University library, demoting it from an independent entity and transforming it into a subordinated department?  The recent spate of firings looks to be designed to preshape the structure of the law library for insertion into the main library's organization.

I believe this matter requires investigation by AALL with or without but hopefully with the cooperation of AALS. Don't you?

Editor's Note: Thanks to Anon.