Although the announcement for the closing of Edna McConnell Clark Physical Sciences Library came over a month ago, the administration is still feeling reverberations of ill sentiment from affected students and academics. The full brunt of this bitterness came directly to a head in yesterday’s forum in Clark Hall, where Janet McCue, associate University librarian, headed a small cadre of librarians to field questions and address confusions regarding the closing.

“We don’t want to have your research suffer, and we really don’t want there to be obstacles to your work,” McCue said to the audience of about 25, mostly graduate students. “We also don’t want to diminish the collection support we’re giving you.”

The University, in an attempt to maintain economic buoyancy, has had to reduce the variety of services offered, often to the chagrin of the students. One recent example was the closing of the Physical Sciences Library in Clark Hall, which generated much backlash from concerned students. The decision to close the library at the end of 2009 was made in early March by the University Library System in an effort to minimize its sizeable deficit.

The Physical Sciences Library in Clark Hall — like Tower Café and the Knight Visual Resources Facility before it — has fallen prey to the University-wide budget cuts in reaction to the current financial crisis.

According to a recent announcement on the Cornell Library’s website, “Janet McCue [associate University librarian for teaching, research, outreach and learning services] met with PSL staff on Wednesday to let them know that their library will be closing at the end of 2009.”