This commentary is by Paul Carnahan, who attended the public schools in Brattleboro, lives in Montpelier, and recently retired after 32 years as the librarian of the Vermont Historical Society in Barre.
Various news outlets have reported that the Vermont State Colleges community is protesting the new Vermont State University’s plan to “digitize” their libraries.
That is not accurate. The phrase “digitize” suggests that all of the materials in the libraries will be replaced by digital copies on a book-by-book basis. That is not what is being proposed. VSU is not planning to “digitize” its libraries. The university is planning to scan a few chapters from books for required readings and purchase digital substitutes from commercial vendors for the rest.
The library collections at the five Vermont State University libraries have been created and cataloged by librarians over many years to reflect the curricula and scholarly needs of their communities. All of this will be discarded in exchange for expensive generic digital resources that are marketed to academic libraries by profit-driven vendors.
It is unlikely that these products will include all of the physical resources that are currently on the shelves. The collection development and cataloging skills of past librarians will be lost and the university will be locked into a never-ending cycle of payments for access to information.
American colleges and universities have embraced online resources for many years, but this is usually done strategically in conjunction with physical libraries on campus. Vermont State University says its plan is modeled after other schools’ positive experiences going digital, but of the six schools cited by the university, three also offer in-person libraries, one is an online-only school for associate and certificate programs only, one is a STEM-only school, and one is part of the State University of New York, whose system includes physical libraries with print materials.
Why does VSU, a rural, statewide university system with years of investment in physical libraries, think it can succeed by ignoring these models and trying an untested approach?
VSU now says that it will keep the most popular books, “although these materials would be housed elsewhere” than in the libraries. First, a true university needs more than just the most popular books to support its research mission. Second, libraries have been developed over the centuries to house books. Why would a struggling academic institution want to “repurpose” its existing library spaces only to have to figure out how to house its remaining books “elsewhere”?
Although VSU has softened its book-free stance a bit since its announcement on Feb. 7, the intent is still to withdraw most of the university’s books and journals from the libraries. They have suggested that they will give these cast-offs to VSU departments and local libraries. This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the library system.
First, the staffs in academic departments are not equipped to maintain libraries. There is a division of roles on campus for good reason. The librarians keep the books in a central location and provide access to them all hours of the day and night. The faculty teach students, conduct research, and write papers to advance knowledge in their fields.
Second, public libraries are not research libraries. Public libraries already have a lot on their plates. They serve the needs of the general public, from preschoolers to retirees. They have no space or interest in taking on a collection that was selected and purchased to support a college curriculum. Why would the VSU leadership think that these materials are needed in a public library if they themselves want to discard them?
VSU has stated that interlibrary loan will still exist for its students and faculty, but interlibrary loan is a reciprocal agreement in which all libraries share their resources. If VSU disperses its collections (purchased with state funds) to nonlibrary locations, it will not be able to share these resources with other Vermonters. The VSU plan impoverishes the state by discarding community-held research resources that are currently available to Vermonters wherever they live.
There is much in this proposal that defies common sense, yet the president and the Vermont State Colleges board are digging in their heels on this nonsensical path. I urge the leaders at VSU to drop their plans to disassemble their libraries and turn their attention instead to providing a solid college education to a wide spectrum of Vermonters.
