Employees at Boston University’s Mugar Memorial Library have reported a disorganized work environment and understaffing in the Circulation department following the departure of several full-time and supervisory staff.
Mugar library has had no head librarian since July 2021 — the position is currently being filled in ad interim by former associate librarian Mark Newton.
Jean Morrison, university provost and chief academic officer, wrote in an email that efforts are underway to fill high-level positions and that the search for head librarian will commence once the positions have been filled.
“It will be announced to the community then, and we will welcome nominations and applications from all, including members of the BU Community,” Morrison wrote.
Other supervisory positions, such as the head of circulation and the evening circulation manager, have also been vacant for several months.
Mugar employee Juan Ruiz, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the library’s Circulation department has been understaffed with full-time employees since Aug. 2020.
“They told me that they’ve been looking for people but it’s not an easy search,” he said.
Former Head Librarian K. Matthew Dames stepped down July 16, 2021 after three years in the role, as reported in BU Today. Dames took on a position at the University of Notre Dame as the Edward H. Arnold University Librarian.
Newton has since stepped in as interim head librarian. He had previously served as associate university librarian since Jun. 2019.
Newton did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.
CAS junior Angie Izquierdo has worked in Mugar’s mailroom since her freshman year. She said there was a rotation of staff at the beginning of the year, soon after Newton took charge, adding the mailroom was then generally disorganized.
“Everyone’s a little bit confused in terms of mail because there’s a whole bunch of new people coming in,” Izquierdo said. “Especially over the summertime, there was a lot of people who were brand new, so we were accidentally throwing their mail away.”
Ruiz said the Circulation department also grappled with logistical disorganization ever since former Evening Circulation Manager Anne Marie Shafer left the position.
“There’s more useless tasks, per se,” Ruiz said. “They have to bring other supervisors for Circulation from other libraries — like the geology library [and] the science library —and they don’t know how everything works there and the job just gets harder in general.”
Mugar reduced its hours of operation when it reopened in fall 2020, following its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of closing at 2 a.m., the library now closes at 11 p.m, except during study periods.
Ruiz said many upperclassmen, who remember when the library was open later, have complained about its reduced hours. There is no clear indication as to if or when the library will revert back to its original hours of operations, Ruiz said.
For some students, this proves problematic. The library is a much-used resource, especially for students like Hasnain Abdur Rehman, a second-year graduate student in the College of Engineering, who said he studies there “almost day and night.”
Ruiz said he believes the library is underfunded while bringing up the fact that tables on two floors have no outlets to plug in electronic devices.
“Access to computers is very limited,” Ruiz said. “I feel like BU gets a lot of money and the library doesn’t, and I feel like it is a crucial place.”
Campus Editor Jesús Marrero Suárez contributed to the reporting of this article.
Correction: A previous version of this article led with the fact that the University has yet to hire a head librarian, but did not immediately mention that the position is currently being filled ad interim by Mark Newton. The article’s structure has also been reorganized to emphasize employees’ comments of understaffing and disorganization at the library.
