Save the Inforum Library collection

Advocate for due process, collegiality, and transparency

The purpose of this wiki is to empower our stakeholders and the academic librarian community with information regarding the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information administration's decision to dismantle and disperse the Inforum Library's specialized collection across the other University of Toronto Library System (UTLS) libraries.

MAY 24, 2023  
This wiki will be updated over the summer to supply the coda as to what transpired with the Inforum, and what became of the wiki's authors.

APRIL 28, 2022:
All links on this wiki to documents and pages on the old Inforum website are now broken, as the Inforum as a library, closed at the end of December 2019, and its website was taken down the following year. At some point we will try to relink the broken links, but in the meantime, know that the Inforum website is archived at the University of Toronto Archives (UTARMS) web archives. Type in inforum.library.utoronto.ca and scroll down to get to the archived site.

AUGUST 6, 2019:
INFORUM COLLECTION MOVE SLATED FOR AUGUST 8 & 9, 2019.  See new timeline post for more details.

CONTENTS 

• Issues arising from the decision to remove the collection
• Timeline of events
• Letters of support for due process and retaining the collection
• How you can help
• Research
• Historical significance
• Student survey responses

THERE'S STILL HOPE 

The Fine Arts Library at the University of Texas at Austin recently faced the same scenario: their academic library collections were slated to move without due process.  This email (March 16, 2018) alerted the wider community to their circumstances and advocacy efforts. Since then, their provost has listened to the objections of the Fine Arts students and faculty to these changes to their library and has decided to halt moving more FAL collections (see provost's response, April 6, 2018). More about the Save UT Libraries campaign.

OTHER LIBRARIES IN JEOPARDY

The University of Auckland has also been in the news recently.  Administration plans to close some of its subject specialty libraries, such as the Fine Arts Library, the Architecture Library, and others have been met with vociferous student protest. In this article, students said that they were not part of the consultation process.

AUTHORSHIP: The authors of the wiki are the three full-time Inforum librarians ­– Kathleen Scheaffer, Outreach & Instructional Services Librarian; Nalini Singh, Reference Services Coordinator; and, Elisa Sze, Collections & Public Services Librarian.  The professional assessment of these librarians are rooted in over 40 years of collective experience serving Inforum users.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this site was drafted by librarians working directly with the Inforum collection. These materials were drafted by them in their capacity as appointed U of T librarians. The views expressed on this site do not reflect the views of any organization or entity associated with the drafters, unless otherwise expressly stated.

Images used on this page
"Inforum stacks" photograph by Gordon Belray

"Flyers posted outside the Art Building" photograph by the Save UT Libraries! campaign, https://saveutlibraries.com/#jp-carousel-100