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Dive Brief:
- Proposed legislation in Vermont would prevent the state's new university from enacting a plan to dramatically shrink the contents of its 10 libraries.
- Under the bill, Vermont State University, which will open in July and combine the state's three existing public colleges, wouldn't be able to close or reduce the size of its physical library collections without legislative approval.
- The university in February announced a plan to make its libraries “all-digital”, but rolled back some of the changes following community backlash.
Dive Insight:
Under its original plan, Vermont State intended to eliminate most of its print collection, keeping only high-circulation items and those that can't be accessed digitally. Print materials would only be procured for students with a documented need for accommodation.
But resistance from students and the broader academic community led the university to release a revised plan this month.
In addition to keeping its special collections and archives, Vermont State now intends to keep all books that were checked out from 2018 to 2022 and that have been deemed academically valuable by the provost and department chairs. It will also keep a “neighborhood library” for children's and popular literature.
