Management proposes to spill 51 FTE positions, with a net loss of 19 from an existing strength of 220 FTE

The university tells staff this is not a COVID-19 driven proposal, but, “the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need to accelerate the development of the Library’s digital support services and ensure the staffing model is fit-for-purpose.”

The Library needs to, “lift the capacity, expertise, and digital capabilities of its workforce – this is not a criticism of staff but an acknowledgement that the “digital pivot” by Uni Queensland requires more,” the change proposal states.

Management points to expanded demands for teaching and learning support, “the need for hybrid delivery modes and the opportunities that digital learning provides, including student flexibility and incorporating technology into the classroom to support active learning, means the increased need for IT support is going to continue.

And for research, “the Library has an ongoing role in supporting scholarly publishing. The opportunity is now is to reframe this to whole-of-research-lifecycle support to add more value at all points – from idea conception, to identifying funding opportunities, establishing best practice research data management, making strategic publishing decisions, and tracking the impact of scholarly outputs.”

However, the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union suggests, “the new structure will also take us further down the road towards embedding hybrid teaching across the university.”

And it points to the impact on people, “at the end of this dog-eat-dog process, some highly professional and dedicated staff will end up unemployed.”

Consultation closes on December 22.