huang.p65 College and University Mergers 121 College and University Mergers: Impact on Academic Libraries in China Hong-Wei Huang Translated by Sha Li Zhang Since the early 1990s, under a state-planning program, individual col­ leges and universities in China began to merge with much larger univer­ sities. Such mergers have been a part of China’s higher education re­ form. The wave of mergers among colleges and universities will have a far-reaching influence on China’s academic libraries. In this paper, the author attempts to explore positive outcomes for academic libraries, present anticipated challenges, and offer possible solutions in the li­ brary merging process. olleges and universities in funds and resour ces among these China have been governed by schools.1 several parent organizations. In the early 1990s, the State Council Some have been funded and and the State Educational Commission in managed by the state government. One example is Peking University, which has been funded by the State Educational Commission (the state government). Others have been funded and managed by each departmental ministry and pro­ vincial government. Beijing Medical Uni­ versity, for instance, has been supported by both the Ministry of Public Health and the Bureau of Higher Education of Beijing City. In the past, such a funding and management model, to some degree, has caused each college and university to function in isolation, has created du­ plicate programs among colleges and universities in the same geographic area, and has exacerbated competition for China required that colleges and univer­ sities improve the management system so that funding and resources for higher education would be better used. This plan was intended to enhance educational quality, improve institutional efficiency, and share educational resources. The plan also encouraged individual universities and colleges in the same geographic ar­ eas to merge or combine into one com­ prehensive educational entity. Under this plan, one hundred major universities were selected to be the first group to ex­ periment in such mergers. These univer­ sities have traditionally had strong aca­ demic programs, resources, and infra­ structures. Hong-Wei Huang is the Library Director at the Hunan Senior College of Constructional Materials in Hengyang City, Human Province, People’s Republic of China. Sha Li Zhang is Head of Technical Services at the Wichita State University Libraries; e-mail: zhang@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu. The original version of this paper appeared in the Journal of Academic Libraries 17, no.3 (1999): 62–64. 121 mailto:zhang@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu 122 College & Research Libraries March 2000 In 1993, Sichuan University and Cheng-du Science and Technology Uni­ versity became the first ones to merge into one educational entity named Sichuan Union University (recently, the name was changed back to Sichuan University). The trend of college and university mergers will continue in China in the next decade. Since 1997, the pace of college and uni­ versity mergers has increased consider­ ably. One hundred and ninety-five col­ leges and universities have merged into seventy-four major universities, and the names of eighty-five colleges and univer­ sities have been eliminated. An additional example of such a merger is Zhe-jiang University, which was formed by merg­ ing Zhe-jiang University, Hang-zhou University, Zhe-jiang Medical University, and Zhe-jiang Agriculture University. Today, Zhe-jiang University is the largest university in China.2 The trend of college and university mergers will continue in China in the next decade. Academic libraries that have affiliated with each college and university before the merger will func­ tion as one library system serving the entire merged university community. What will be the outcomes when these libraries merge? What kind of impact will these academic libraries experience? How do we respond to challenges brought forth by these mergers? In this article, the author hopes to explore these aspects and offer possible answers. Positive Outcomes for Academic Libraries There is no doubt that college and uni­ versity mergers will have a far-reaching influence on China’s higher education and on academic library services as well. The positive outcomes will include: Collections: Combining materials from several libraries will create an enlarged collection that no single academic library could afford to acquire. The increased number of copies, volumes, unique titles, and formats will make library collections more comprehensive and more volatile than when the collections were located separately. Access to the greater number of library resources is definitely a plus for all merging libraries. Acquisitions: In the merger process, many small schools are combined or be­ come part of a larger university. The li­ braries of these small schools will benefit from combined acquisitions budgets that allow them to acquire desired materials. Because of such mergers, small schools will be able to receive funding levels that used to be granted only to large research libraries. They also will be able to take advantage of collection development and acquisitions expertise from the large li­ braries while selecting and acquiring materials. Staffing: When libraries merge into one large organization, staff quality will im­ prove. Adding staff members from sev­ eral libraries together will increase the number of competent staff. In addition, morale will increase when a conducive and collegiate environment is present. The library will be able to redesign posi­ tions and organizational structure that serve the new library in a more efficient way. Duplicate positions will be elimi­ nated. The library will have greater flex­ ibility to redirect staffing to the most needed positions than formerly, espe­ cially in key technical and managerial positions. Therefore, the staff shortage that has existed in smaller libraries will be alleviated. Moreover, staff will be en­ couraged to stay current and to seek op­ portunities to learn new skills. Services: When several colleges and universities merge, their teaching and research programs will be improved and enhanced. The state government has set a higher expectation for merging schools than for other schools in terms of teach­ ing and research. On the other hand, merging colleges and universities also intend to quickly demonstrate advan­ tages and benefits gained from mergers in order to obtain additional funding from the state government. Therefore, they ex­ College and University Mergers 123 pect a higher quality of library services than ever before. Such an expectation pre­ sents the merging library with an oppor­ tunity to prove its importance within the university community. Library services will be improved. Funding: Mergers will alleviate the situation of tight funds for library acqui­ sitions. In principle, the state government, departmental ministry, and provincial government have committed to allocate more funds than before to support col­ leges and universities during the merg­ ers, including additional funds to support libraries. Because each merging library will substantially reduce duplicate cop­ ies, the savings can be used to purchase more unique titles than previously. More- Duplicate administrative positions will be either eliminated or com­ bined, and existing positions will be reassigned. over, after the mergers, the growing repu­ tation of the university will enable the li­ brary to attract additional funding and donations from other sources. Resource sharing: Before mergers, due to a variety of reasons in the past, resource sharing was a good theory that was never put into practice. Although many colleges and universities in the same geographic areas have talked about resource sharing for years, they have never taken any ac­ tions. The act of merging will enable li­ braries to achieve resource sharing. Many less-circulated items will then be acces­ sible to the larger university community. Some special collections will demonstrate their values for meeting a variety of user needs. Anticipated Challenges for Library Services In addition to certain advantages, the wave of university mergers will bring about certain challenges. These challenges come from the following areas: Library administration: Before merging, each individual library has its own ad­ ministration team, including a library di­ rector, associate/assistant directors, and department heads. In many cases, this group of people has worked together for a long time and has developed personal bonds. When the merger comes, the ad­ ministrative teams from several libraries will have to be restructured because the need to have several library directors, numerous associate/assistant directors, and a dozen department heads no longer will exist. Duplicate administrative posi­ tions will be either eliminated or com­ bined, and existing positions will be re­ assigned. Such changes will cause anxi­ ety, resistance, and passive reactions among library administrators, especially in the case of conflict interests between the individual and the newly merged li­ brary. Staff positions: Like administrative posts, library staff positions will face re­ structuring, elimination, combination, and reassignment. In academic commu­ nities, many staff have worked in the same library for years. They have lived in comfortable working zones. When li­ braries merge, they will be asked to work with staff from different libraries, perform at different positions, and assume differ­ ent responsibilities. Those people often fear losing their comfortable zones. If merging libraries do not address these issues carefully, they will generate resis­ tance and have a negative impact on staff morale. Collection: During the mergers, several collection issues need to be resolved. First, if the library administration decides to eliminate small libraries and move all materials into the central library, this will cause an immediate space problem for the central library. On the other hand, if the library administration intends to keep the small libraries as branch libraries, the newly merged library will have to pur­ chase multiple copies of certain materi­ als for each site, which will tie up the new library’s materials budget. Second, before the merger, each library had developed various specialized collections to meet its college or university’s teaching and re­ search needs. When libraries merge, fund­ 124 College & Research Libraries March 2000 ing for those collections may be reallo­ cated to purchase materials in a broader scope. Therefore, it will take a long time to reestablish collections that meet teach­ ing and research needs of the newly formed interdisciplinary programs in the merging university. A gap will exist be­ tween the enhanced teaching and re­ search programs and expectations of li­ brary materials. Third, in the past, due to the lack of coordination in acquisitions among academic libraries in the same geographic area, the libraries have many duplicate monographic and serial titles. When the merger comes, these duplicated materials will require additional space to be housed. For highly circulated items, multiple copies will enable the library to meet the user demand. However, less-cir­ culated duplicates will add pressure to library shelves and space. Online cataloging system: In past years, many four-year university libraries and junior college libraries installed online cataloging systems. These systems were developed either in-house or by different vendors. When these small libraries are merged into large academic libraries, all parties will face incompatible system is­ sues. The merging libraries will have to invest substantial funds to have a unified online system in the next few years. Possible Solutions Based on the above observations and as­ sumptions, the author offers the follow­ ing possible solutions: 1. Put personal interests aside and keep integrity. Each library should respect de­ cisions resulting from mergers from a higher authority. The college and univer­ sity merger should be viewed as a one­ time opportunity that will bring many benefits to all participants. 2. Plan ahead. Each library should pre­ pare for the anticipated merger before the decision comes from the state govern­ ment. An inventory list of such prepara­ tion should include: • Collections: Each library should count its collections and share this information with other libraries. The libraries need to weed through the less-circulated multiple copies so that this group of materials will not have to be moved to the new library. • Materials usage: Each library should collect data such as the number of regis­ tered patrons, circulated volumes, library services, and access methods. The num­ ber of patrons in the new library should be projected. Other preparation includes studying users’ reading behavior and cir­ culation patterns in the new library, and comparing policy and procedures among the merging libraries. These data will pro­ vide guidelines for the new library’s ac­ quisitions and services. • Facilities: Each library should list data such as space, reading seats, automation system, hardware, software, and so on in order to prepare for combining online cataloging systems. Such data should be shared among merging libraries prior to physical moves. • Personnel: Each library should pro­ vide a list of staff and their responsibili­ ties and assignments to other libraries that will merge. Such a list will enable the new library administration to reassign posi­ tions and responsibilities based on indi­ vidual skills and experiences. • Acquisitions: A coordinating effort in acquisitions should be made among merging libraries. Each library should keep multiple monographic and serial copies to the minimum to alleviate shelf and space pressures in the new library. Each library should predict teaching and research needs of the university commu­ nity after the merger. Acquisitions should be well planned, focused, and tied to pro­ grams in the merged university. • Policy and procedures: A draft of policy and procedures for the new library should be in place to guide the merged library practices. • Moving: Finally, each library will have to prepare moving some materials to the central library and at the same time relocate materials to branch libraries. Preparation should be in place prior to physical moves. 3. Form an inspiring and united library administration. This is the key to the suc­ College and University Mergers 125 cess of the merged library. People on this administrative team should be capable, conduct themselves in a professional manner, and assume full responsibility for their work. Though these individuals will come from different libraries, they must work together and not allow gos­ sip and activities from their previous li­ braries to interfere with their new respon­ sibilities. They also will need to encour­ age staff to participate in creating new li­ brary practice and help the merged li­ brary implement operations in a short time frame. 4. Build a competent staff team. When the new library administration reassigns responsibilities in key positions, it should maintain balance among staff from different libraries and also work to avoid conflict. This will be most ef­ fective when an environment is estab­ lished that will enable talented staff to grow and reach their potential. The new library administration also should rec­ ognize that staff coming from small li­ braries will need training to catch up with their colleagues from large librar­ ies. Maintaining harmony among the staff is the most important component of the merged library. 5. Weed out less-circulated materials prior to the physical move. Each library should conduct its own weeding project before moving to the new library. The librarians should get rid of less-used multiple cop­ ies to avoid moving these materials to the new library. The weeding process will save much space. 6. Make a long-range plan. This is the most important step in merging libraries. The new library should have in place unified policies and procedures, a unified facility maintenance system, and a uni­ fied personnel policy. If the new library plans to set up branch libraries, it should implement the same policies and proce­ dures so that the branch libraries will be real arms of the central library and not just the old libraries with new names. 7. Establish a central acquisitions, catalog­ ing, and processing unit. A centralized pro­ cessing unit will eliminate duplicate ef­ forts, resources, and personnel. It also will help the merged library follow the same standards in processing materials. 8. Provide support for staff whose positions are eliminated. Due to reassignments in many merged libraries, some staff mem­ bers will retire and some will go else­ where to work. However, there will al­ ways be some library staff who will not be reappointed. The new library should make every effort to support these staff, including placing them in temporary po­ sitions so that they can stay current with new library practices and get reappoint­ ments in the near future. Library mergers are new, complicated, and exciting in China. Librarians should devote their energy and efforts to ensure a smooth transition. The library’s users will be the true beneficiaries of mergers. Notes 1. Yuan-qing Zhou, “It Is Imperative to Increase the Pace of Higher Education Reform,” Re­ search in Higher Education, no. 1 (1998): 16–19. 2. Qiang Zhu, an e-mail exchange with the translator, Dec. 9, 1999.