Response on Tulane

Lance Query, Interim Director of the Tulane Law Library, today posted this message on the lawlibdir listserv. I am posting it here with his permission:

From: lquery@tulane.edu

To: lawlibdir@lists.washlaw.edu

Date: Jan 20, 2006 12:01 PM

Good morning, I am Lance Query, Interim Director of the Law Library at Tulane. I
have been acting in that capacity since May. I had planned to return to my day
job as Dean of Libraries and Academic Information Resources upon the
appointment of a Director of the Law Library, a position which reports to the
Dean of the Law School. Katrina intervened and the search for the director was
postponed. It is the intention of both the Dean and myself to recruit for a
permanent director, though conditions in New Orleans at this time make the
timing of the reposting unclear.

In the wake of the disaster, Tulane has redefined itself and has of necessity
reduced its number of faculty and staff. The Law Library was not exempt from
these reductions. Of a staff of twenty, three positions were eliminated: two
librarians and one staff member. The responsibilities of those positions have
been eliminatated or assumed by others under a reorganization of the library.

Under the reorganization I have named two assistant directors, one for services
and one for collections. Kim Glorioso (Koko) is now the Assistant Director for
Services and Charlotte Bynam is now the Assistant Director for Collections. We
have two vacant MLS/JD positions and two vacant staff positions which will be
filled after we've lived with the reorganization for a little while.

To those of you who have offered material assistance and expressions of support
during these difficult days, I offer heartfelt thanks on behalf of the entire
library staff. With a student return rate of around 90% and a faculty return
rate over that, we believe Tulane is in a strong position to return to not only
its position of academic excellence, but also to a leadership role in the
rebuilding the city of New Orleans and the region.

I appreciate Lance's willingness to respond to the concerns raised both in my earlier comments (here and here) and in Joe Hodnicki's comments on the Law Librarian Blog. I don't know how to account for the discrepancy in reports (were three people laid off or nine?), and I wish to respect the feelings of all involved. If any more reliable information comes my way I will share it here.