The bookless library in the news

Inside Higher Ed has picked up on the story about DU's library restructure. They note two important points that hadn't received much attention earlier. First, there's been somewhat of a bait-and-switch:

The original plans -- which did not cause alarm -- called for 80 percent of the materials to return to the renovated library, leaving behind seldom-accessed journals and those with digital replacements, government documents, and little-used books.

But the university announced to faculty members last week that the renovated library would now only hold 20 percent of its current collection, much to the surprise of professors.

The second is that something similar was tried two years ago at Syracuse University and met with massive protests by faculty and students, forcing administrators to change course. I have no idea if DU students or faculty will mount a similar push-back -- the campus is not particularly known for its history of political activism.

Civil disobedience at DU's library?

I wrote last week about the radical restructure of the University of Denver's Penrose Library, which will remove roughly 80 percent of the books in order to create study spaces and public venues for students. I am now hearing of some symbolic pushback efforts by faculty, although I have no idea how widespread such resistance will be. One faculty member is urging colleagues to withdraw as many books as possible and just keep them in their offices. (We only have to renew books once a year, and I have no idea if we have a limit on how many books we can check out.) I've heard another idea to conduct "read-ins" on the lawn in front of the library during the construction.