A faculty member at McMaster forwarded this story to me from Inside Higher Ed about the removal of 80% of its books from their library. The books will be held in off-site storage.
Two caveats before I go on:
1) I have no knowledge about what is happening there other than what I’ve read.
2) There are no comparable plans to remove books at McMaster.
Many of our campuses face similar challenges: increasing enrollment, decreasing funding and a lack of space. Campus administrators periodically conduct space audits to ensure that space is being used effectively. Space is a commodity. Libraries can occupy a sizable percentage of the overall campus real estate. When space is at a premium campus administrators can look at large libraries and see warehouses of little used materials, often in central locations. It is no surprise that many academic library administrators are being asked to justify the use of space and, in some cases, are being asked to return space to central administration for other purposes that are seen as a higher priority. The question we have to ask ourselves is: How am I reinventing space in my library and how is it contributing to the overall priorities of my campus?
Some of us are very fortunate to work at institutions where we are able to work with the administration to reinvent space in ways that are beneficial to all. (Again, I know nothing of the details at Denver.) The relocation of writing centres, teaching and learning centres, centres for digital scholarship and academic programs is helping many of us to reinvent our facilities and our organizations. These kinds of moves will undoubtedly continue as academic libraries move even more funding into e-resources and less into print. The footprint for print resources will decline with time – probably even faster than most of us have anticipated. (Archives and special collections are a different story.)
I am assuming that what is happening here is that the University of Denver is thinking not about today’s needs but what they might be five to ten years from now. Given the investment they are making in the renovations it would be wise for them to be thinking about how an academic library might function in the next decade. From the outside looking in it would seem they are making a bold move in preparation for the future. I am glad there are institutions out there willing to make the bold moves. It’s important for our libraries and our profession.
