Fighting for Academic Librarians: the Impact of Underfunding
Circulating Ideas 278
Guest host Troy Swanson came up to bat again to highlight an important issue! Take it away, Troy:
In the summer of 2024, all nine of the faculty librarians at Western Illinois University received layoff notices. The university was laying off faculty across departments, but the library had suffered the most significant hit. The entire academic department was eliminated. Following these Draconian measures, the WIU librarians started organizing and librarians across Illinois joined them. The WIU story is not just about one university. It’s a stark warning about the precarious state of academic libraries across Illinois and the United States. The very heart of higher education—equitable access to knowledge—is at risk. (Learn how you can help the WIU librarians here.)
In my latest foray into the interviewer chair, I sit down with librarians from Illinois where we dive deep into the current challenges and future prospects for academic librarians in Illinois—and how these issues mirror broader national trends. This episode offers a look at the funding crisis facing our libraries and highlights the critical role librarians play in student success, academic integrity, and community development—both in Illinois and across the country.
My guests in this episode are:
Gayle Porter, Assistant Professor and Catalog Librarian, Chicago State University;
Elizabeth Kamper, Associate Professor and Information Literacy Librarian at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville;
and Hunter Dunlap, Professor & Information Systems Librarian, Western Illinois University.
If you are a Circulating Ideas listener, then you know that libraries are more than buildings filled with books—they’re vital support systems for students navigating higher education. When librarians disappear, students lose access to essential guidance, digital resources, and research expertise. The impact is felt in every classroom, every assignment, and every degree program—whether you’re in Illinois or elsewhere in the United States.
Check this episode out now, either the podcast or the transcript!
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Elizabeth Kamper has been teaching information literacy in libraries for 10 years and received their MSLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They are currently the Information Literacy Librarian and an Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Elizabeth also teaches in the University Honors Program on ‘Questions and the Spirit of Inquiry’ and ‘the Nature of Liberal Education’. Elizabeth has served on several university and national committees focusing on information literacy in university curriculum and held faculty fellowships supporting the campus freshman experience. Their research interests include criticality in information literacy, LGBTQIA+ librarians, wonder-led inquiry for research and writing, as well as using tabletop gaming to roleplay empathy in the classroom.
Gayle Porter holds the rank of Assistant Professor in the Gwendolyn Brooks Library at Chicago State University. She earned a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Brigham Young University and a Master’s degree in History from Chicago State University. As an academic librarian, her specialty is cataloging materials in all formats. Her research interests include cataloging and metadata description.
Hunter Dunlap is a tenured professor and systems librarian at Western Illinois University, where he serves as the Coordinator of Resource Management Services. Dunlap has written widely about technology and academic libraries over his 28-year career, including authoring the widely held book "Open Source Database Driven Web Development" (Chandos). The senior member of the (all) nine librarian faculty eliminated at Western (effective May 2025), he created the savewiulibrarians.org website to help mobilize support for academic librarianship at WIU, and beyond.
Troy A. Swanson is Teaching & Learning Librarian and Library Department Chair at Moraine Valley Community College. Troy is the author or editor of several books and articles including his book Knowledge as a Feeling: How Neuroscience and Psychology Impact Human Information Behavior was published by Rowman & Littlefield. His Ph.D. research focused on the management of technology policy in higher education. He served on ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education Task Force which issued the Framework for Information Literacy in 2016. Over his tenure as a librarian and educator, Troy has won his campus’ Master Teacher and Innovation of the Year awards, as well as the Proquest Innovation in College Librarianship award from ACRL. Additionally, he serves as Legislative Chair for Cook County College Teachers Union which serves 5,000 community college employees.
Previous episodes featuring Troy Swanson
Ready Reference
Mentioned on the podcast:
“Library Faculty Eliminated Amid ‘Fiscal Insanity’ at Western Illinois” [Inside Higher Ed]
“‘A Luxury That We Can’t Afford’” [Chronicle of Higher Education]
“Illinois underfunds public universities by $1.4B, report says. Is there a solution?” [Springfield State Journal-Register]
“Illinois’ Significant Disinvestment in Higher Education” [Center for Tax and Budget Accountability]
Steve Thomas is a public library manager who lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with his wife, two kids, and one dog. He has worked in libraries since the year 2000 and has hosted the Circulating Ideas podcast since 2011. He really likes Coke Zero.
Currently Reading: Orbital by Samantha Harvey