YU Libraries Cancel Journal Subscriptions Amid Budget Reductions

Yeshiva University’s libraries have canceled numerous online journal subscriptions due to budget cuts over the past several months, significantly impacting faculty research capabilities.

Sandy Moore, director of University Libraries since July 2024, told The Commentator that the budget reductions primarily affect the purchase of e-books and journal subscriptions for students and faculty. Decisions of which subscriptions to forgo were based on a data-driven approach, leading to underutilized resources getting cut.

“Yes, the library eliminated a few underutilized resources,” Moore said. “Still, we have opened new Digital Media Studios on both campuses, are working with professors to help with zero-cost textbook courses, and are meeting with program directors to discuss their future needs. YU Libraries will continue to make strategic data-driven decisions when managing our budgets; if resources are not being utilized, we often have to decide to cut them. The simplest way for all of us to ensure that our libraries continue to see growth is to use them.”

“The library will continue to operate normally,” Moore said. While not in favor of the cuts, Moore told The Commentator that the library intends to be a “team player,” and stressed that university libraries nationwide face similar budget pressures due to rising costs for online journals and resources.

The cancellation of journal subscriptions became one of the issues that led to the suspension of YU’s faculty council this summer.

Professor Abraham Ravid, a finance instructor and co-chair of YU’s faculty council, told The Commentator that several online subscriptions critical for research were canceled. While acknowledging that YU is a small university and may not have the means to allow access to all online resources, he stressed that some journals are the “bread and butter” of academic publishing and are essential for producing scholarly work, including the finance databases Compustat and CRSP, without which, academic publishers “will simply reject your work.”

In a discussion with The Commentator last year, then-Director of University Libraries Professor Paul Glassman stated that inflation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was a primary factor behind the cuts, following a nationwide trend in which over 75% of university libraries’ budgets were decreased during the same period. Glassman stepped down as director of YU Libraries in June. After departing from his library position, Glassman told The Commentator that he is “no longer in a position that allows me to speak on behalf of or comment on Yeshiva University Libraries.” Glassman continues to teach architecture at Yeshiva College.

The budget reductions come amid a tumultuous period in YU’s financial history. According to YU’s latest Form 990, a document reporting a tax-exempt organization’s finances, YU recorded a $8.3 million deficit in the 2022 fiscal year. According to an email sent to faculty and staff by Vice President of Administrative Services Patrick Gallagher this summer, YU has faced “unique financial and operational challenges” since Oct. 7.

Professor of Near Eastern Studies Aaron Koller provided The Commentator with a list of 19 Jewish studies journals YU’s libraries are no longer subscribed to, including Biblical Interpretations, a well-known and respected journal among Jewish studies scholars worldwide. 

Koller stressed that the university library is a research-focused facility, geared primarily toward faculty and students conducting thesis research. He expressed extra disappointment that YU was unsubscribing from Jewish studies journals.

“Unlike Hofstra et al.,” Koller told The Commentator, “our library has specialized holdings: our Judaica library prides itself on being one of the best collections in the country. It’s expected that we would not have important new publications in Japanese literature … and [it is] deeply distressing when we don’t subscribe to Jewish Studies journals including those that were canceled. So the most important point is simply that we are no longer trying to be a top-tier research library in Jewish Studies. I find this sad.”

Photo caption: Mendel Gottesman Library Research Desk

Photo credit: Shlomo Friedman / The Commentator