Amid school-wide budget cuts, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Astronomy, Math and Physics Library has closed. The Social Work Library will follow, closing at the end of the academic year, and major campus libraries like College and Memorial library will reduce weekend hours.
These changes are a part of larger university-wide budget cuts, announced earlier in the summer by Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin. All departments were directed to reduce their budgets by 5%, with administrative units reducing their budgets by 7%.
As a result, the library system will close two libraries and will reduce hours at others, according to a release put out by the university on August 6.
The Business Library in Grainger Hall will shorten its hours, and its highest demand materials are being moved to Memorial Library. The Geology and Geophysics Library in Weeks Hall is also reducing their services and will similarly be transferring materials to Steenbock Library.
UW-Madison’s biggest libraries have also felt the impact of these cuts. Memorial, Steenbock and College Libraries will all have reduced hours, including closing earlier on Friday and Saturday nights and opening later on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Previously, College Library had been a 24 hour library, but they will now close earlier on weekends.
The new hours at the major campus locations are:
- Memorial Library is now open 8:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Fridays, noon - 6 p.m. on Saturday and noon - 11 p.m. on Sunday
- College library opens at 11 a.m. on Sunday and remains open 24 hours a day during the week before closing at 6 p.m. on Friday. Their Saturday hours will be 11 a.m. - 6 p.m
- Steenbock Library is open 9 a.m. - 11:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Friday. Their weekend hours are 1-5 p.m. on Saturday and 1-11:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Some of the changes were previously outlined in the 2017 Library Facilities Master Plan, which laid out a potential consolidation of materials into fewer locations, but the acceleration of the process has still been attributed to July’s budget cut directive.
