Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Vermont State University to close libraries, downgrade sports programs

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I saw this on LinkedIn accompanied with the unsurprising lamentations about the loss of a centre of social activity on campus. Libraries were never that for me, not the least reason being that you had to be quiet in libraries, and couldn't even bring in food or drink. I think a better use of the space would be to house actual social activity centres. I never found libraries to be particularly convenient either, especially when I was working at home at night and needed a particular reference. When I was in Moncton, the nearest academic library in English was more than 100 km away. Not useful. And there's no reason why librarians can't provide online reference and research support (as they do at NRC today). And I think people know all this, at least at some level. "According to the FAQ, the decision to close the libraries was "data-driven" and follows "year-over-year declines in circulation of physical materials, a trend that hasn't reversed since a return to pre-pandemic enrollment levels." This should surprise no one.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 14, 2024 10:17 a.m.

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