The other employees will work directly with Human Resources to find other positions within Harvard.

The four employees, all of whom declined to comment on the layoffs, were informed of the decision on Friday morning by Associate Librarian for Planning and Administration Susan Lee and Librarian for the Sciences Lynne Schmelz.

“In some ways it was not a total surprise to the staff because there’s been talk on and off for years about space issues within the building and possibly shrinkage or changes within Kummel,” said Lee. “They knew the faculty would be meeting about space, and they knew I was coming, so they knew something was afoot. Of course, they were disappointed.”

Leach praised his staff’s optimism and concern for the collection.

“You might expect people to react emotionally, but they were very professional,” he said. “I was proud of them for that. They’re hopeful that they will get placed in the Harvard community within the next year and a half.”

Leach and Brainard both emphasized that there is a possibility that some of the eliminated positions would later be reinstated. An “impact study” will be launched in coming months to assess whether Cabot’s current employees will need help in managing the increased workload, according to Lee.

“The folks at Kummel and the folks at Cabot are going to have to work together to analyze the impact,” she said.

—Staff writer Leon Neyfakh can be reached at neyfakh@fas.harvard.edu.