Downsizing in Academic Libraries: The Canadian Experience

Judith E. Franchuk is a librarian in the Cameron Library at the
University of Alberta.

During the 1990s, academic libraries across Canada downsized. The
process is still going on. But what exactly does downsizing mean? What
happened during the downsizing of the 1990s? What were the consequences
of that downsizing? What can be learned from these events?

The authors attempt to answer these questions in this book. First they
review each of the management and librarianship literatures on
downsizing. From their reviews they construct a definition of downsizing
that recognizes Kim S. Cameron, Sarah J. Freeman, and Aneil K.
Mishra’s three core strategies for downsizing: staff reduction, job
redesign, and “systemic” change aimed at changing the culture of the
organization to foster continuous improvement. Next, to get a picture of
downsizing in Canadian research libraries during the 1990s, more than
1100 librarians from 26 libraries all belonging to the Canadian
Association of Research Libraries (CARL) were surveyed about their
experiences with change and downsizing. Then, to provide context for
their survey findings, the authors draw statistics, from Statistics
Canada and CARL, on national and regional trends in student enrolment in
universities across Canada and library expenditures for human resources,
materials, and other costs. One significant survey finding they discuss
suggests that while all three strategies for downsizing were used to
some extent, Canadian research libraries downsized primarily by
redesigning work and paid the least amount of attention to cultural
changes (within their organizations) that would help sustain continuous
improvement over the long term. The authors also present their findings
on CARL libraries’ use of three important downsizing processes:
communication, employee participation, and “transformational”
leadership. The consequences of downsizing for public, technical, and
administrative services in academic libraries are also examined.
Finally, the authors provide suggestions for how downsizing can be done
better in the future.

The authors have done a good job of presenting their literature review
and survey findings in a very understandable way. They have structured
the text so that their research questions are clearly asked and
answered. The book provides a valuable analysis of the downsizing in the
1990s and, perhaps even more valuable, it also provides a foundation for
further data collection and analysis of current and future downsizing.