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CFA Sacramento members, together with students, staff, and community members, celebrated a huge win on March 4 after they\u00a0took action\u00a0when their library budget was cut by\u00a0nearly\u00a0half\u00a0a million dollars.\u00a0They successfully secured\u00a0an increase\u00a0to\u00a0the library\u00a0budget over the next three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re grateful to CFA and campus leadership for bringing attention to the needs of the University Library,\u201d said Mary-Kate Finnegan, CFA Sacramento\u00a0member\u00a0and Scholarly Communication & Science librarian. \u201cThe library plays\u00a0a central role\u00a0in supporting student learning, teaching, and research across Sacramento State. This investment will help us improve spaces that students rely on every day, and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0hopeful it\u00a0represents\u00a0a step toward sustained support for the library in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe library can\u2019t be used as a convenient place which you can continue to cut from,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00c1ntonia\u00a0Peigahi, CFA member and English & Communication Studies librarian.<\/p>\n
The proposed cuts were first announced on October 8, 2025, when Sacramento State employees were informed that their library\u2019s\u00a0operating\u00a0budget would be slashed by 53%, or $472,953, for the 2025-26 fiscal year, with\u00a0additional\u00a0cuts to be expected in the following years. These cuts deeply\u00a0impacted\u00a0the library\u2019s operations and collections budget, forcing librarians to reassess how resources and services would be\u00a0allocated\u00a0while also reducing the library\u2019s hours of operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CFA Sacramento chapter leaders met with Sacramento State President Luke Wood and Provost\u00a0Erika\u00a0Cameron\u00a0that\u00a0same day to express their concern for the library and made note of the 53% cut. Both the president and the provost acknowledged the reduction without any dispute.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, one week later, Wood challenged the figures\u00a0stated\u00a0on the library webpage, then\u00a0subsequently\u00a0altered them to downplay the seriousness of the cuts rather than address the issue. These changes were both unclear and misleading, as they did not accurately\u00a0represent\u00a0just how dire the situation would have been.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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CFA Sacramento members\u00a0immediately\u00a0sprang\u00a0into\u00a0action to develop a plan to save the library and restore its lost funding.\u00a0
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In response, they held an emergency meeting on October 20 to inform faculty, students, and staff about the proposed cuts and ways to push back against them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In February, CFA members\u00a0presented\u00a0a\u00a0petition\u00a0to Wood and Cameron signed by over 400\u00a0faculty, staff, and community members. The petition urged them\u00a0to restore\u00a0the library\u2019s materials and operations budget and to be fully transparent on budgeting issues with Academic Affairs, the latter shining light on management\u2019s mischaracterization of the cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CFA Sacramento members also raised the issue\u00a0to\u00a0their faculty senate, spoke directly to their colleagues when hall walking, and tabled in the library breezeway to garner further support from students and the broader campus community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their combined efforts generated incredible pressure for management to act\u2026 and they did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an e-mail to employees on March 3, Wood shared that the university would dedicate $3 million of its Total Return Portfolio (TRP) allocation from the Chancellor\u2019s Office to support renovations and capital improvements to the library over the next three fiscal years.\u00a0The\u00a0TRP<\/a>\u00a0is part of the\u00a0$8\u00a0billion\u00a0in\u00a0investments held centrally by the CSU.\u00a0While these funds\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0go directly to\u00a0operating\u00a0costs, covering the capital costs can free up other funds that can then be used for operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe library can\u2019t be used as a convenient place which you can continue to cut from,\u201d said\u00a0\u00c1ntonia\u00a0Peigahi, CFA member and English & Communication Studies librarian. \u201cWe have one-on-one conversations with instructional faculty and students and know that these cuts compromise the learning and research conditions for all students, staff, and faculty. We are still committed to raise this issue because, as much as this is a clich\u00e9, the library is the intellectual heart of the institution and the library without resources is antithetical to our teaching mission, our learning endeavor, and\u00a0likely our\u00a0R2 designation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n