From Joe Moshenka:
As I’m sure you’re all aware, plans are currently underway for the reonvation of Firestone. I hadn’t paid much attention to these, generally thinking that the place could do with a lick of paint and would no doubt be improved. However, Prof. Joshua Katz in the classics department recently drew my attention to the details of the plan, which apparently involve no books whatsoever on the ground, second and third floors (I would have put those words in italics to illustrate my disgust but webmail wouldn’t let me) and what he aptly calls the general ‘Barnes-and-Noblification’ of the library. These floors will instead be taken up by “Instructional Space” and “Work and Study Space”. Whatever this means, its a euphemism for fewer books and more space for people to sit around in. I am already distressed by the manner in which the library is treated by some undergrads, especially around senior thesis time – I’ve seen people with Triumph burgers and litre bottles of juice on C-floor – and I think any more moves in this direction are a terrible idea which will only water down the quality of the collection and the space as somewhere in which proper research can be conducted. There are surely enough lounges on campus without Firestone turning into one. I gather also that much of what is being discussed is getting rid of materials now available digitally, which again seems to me to be a travesty. I also don’t want to spend any more time calling up materials from off-site and waiting for them to arrive than I already do.
Anyway, enough ranting. The library is holding focus groups for grad students to discuss this next week on monday and tuesday – if you want to get involved you can e-mail Dorothy Pearson at pearson@princeton.edu.
We have nothing to lose but our books! Grad students of the world, unite!
Joe
A Note from Sarah: The focus groups are scheduled for Monday, November 26th from 10-11,
2-3 and 4:30-5:30. I’m not sure about the location, but I will post this info as soon as I know.
If the question is where in the building the books and the human-habitable spaces are, then I cannot, myself, imagine a reasonable argument against moving the classroom and study space to the above-ground portions of the library and putting all the books underground. I’d far rather have seminar and study rooms with windows (you know, the kind that look out on the outdoors).
Getting rid of material is a far more serious concern, but I actually don’t think that “fewer books” has been proposed by anyone, as it would be patently silly (see Karin Trainer’s response to Katz’s Prince op-ed). At worst, I think some stuff that’s available in digital form might be shoved off to the annexes, and I can’t see much harm in that.
I’d appreciate an English grad student presence at the focus group discussions, by all means. But do we really not want pleasant above-ground study areas? Recall that some of the spaces being discussed are locked to undergrads and intended solely for our use.
I will be at the Monday focus group.
I just want to note that there are no books on the 1st or 2nd floors of firestone already, (not counting the few in the trustee’s room and the back room) so we’re actually talking abt removing the equivilant of one floor of books (the 3rd). that’s just to say that probably a lot of books you need will still be in fstone.
Consider it added to the agenda. I’ll be away and can’t make the focus group, but I’ll be forwarding this discussion to Ms. Pearson. Hopefully some of you can attend the focus group and the GAC meeting…
As another curious individual, I have to add that I agree with Adrienne.
Since feelings are running high on this, perhaps we should add it to the agenda for our next GAC meeting and (provided we can all agree on something) mandate our tireless presidents to write something expressing our collective sentiments to the Provost and Librarian? Focus groups can only do so much…
Just a small, thoroughly depressing thought before I leave it to those in Princeton so I can return to a tar-like diss and a three year-old child:
KINDLE.
Be afraid.
Perhaps I misunderstood — are they depriving the library of a large portion of books, and transforming a majority of the building into lounge space?
Being close to the books you need is imperative, so Frist and Chancellor’s Green don’t cut it. I agree with Adrienne about the need to browse, but I think it must be determined what precisely they plan to move and for whose benefit before simply descrying the loss of the physical books.
They aren’t planning on burning them, are they? Or making them completely unavailable?
I don’t think that books being available in physical form has anything to do with ‘superficial fondling’; I am not opposing the digitalisation of written material, and I see no reason whay keeping a large portion of the library allocated for books is in any way opposed to ‘the democratization of the research process.’ As Adrienne points out, there are massive amounts of space in the library already set aside for working, not to mention space in Frist and Chancellor Green where it’s possible to read without paying out small world coffee prices. Of course books are not to be fetishised, but they are to be respected. One reason that I think people should attend the study groups is to ensure that the changes to actually improve grad student working conditions, which I am of course all in favour of doing. Plenty of things need to change in the library, but we need to make sure things move in the right direction.
I must disagree with the point that books need not be available for superficial fondling. I dont know how many times I’ve gone to the stacks looking for one book and happened to fine several more books, more vital than the first most times, just by being able to browse. Browsing stacks is crucial to my own work as a scholar and a curious individual. Many a paper and thought of mine have been enormously improved by the resources available by browsing the stacks and, quickly being able to rifle through what I need when I need it has saved me so much time.
I’m in the library every day, and there are only about 3 weeks out of the year where space to work is sparse (midterms, finals, mid terms, finals) Other than that, the A floor, B floor and C floor, the Dixon room, the Trustees room, Scrib…tables galore! Not to mention the Grad study rooms (since we do have access to all of them with our key). If they removed the card catalogs on the first floor and made it into more work space, I think it would be fine.
I also have a carrel, which is wonderful, and I suppose lucky. Maybe we should be given more a priority over carrels (English grad students and other grad students who don’t have alloted ‘office’ space like History, anthro, etc.) Or maybe with the improvement of the graduate study room, spaces will be more inviting, we’ll have more shelves to leave things, etc. There are other ways to make the library more conducive to work than ripping the books out.
I am about books! I need them!
I’ll be at the focus group on Monday
I will draw some ire here, but I’ll send my voice from beyond the grave (and across the ocean) for a little perspective.
As English grad students, we study literature, the written word, the narrative and lack thereof. Books are merely one means of transmission — they are not to be worshipped, and need not be available for casual viewing and/or superficial fondling.
What is needed, however, is space to conduct research without having to trudge books back to a cramped space in the rain or snow. Not everyone has the space to work where they sleep. Not everyone has a car. Not everyone can sit in Small World and get work done… or afford to buy their coffee when they try.
I think waiting a day or two for an item to come out of an annex is a small price to pay for the democratization of the research process. I would have killed for a carrel while living in Princeton and, if this reapportioning of library space includes more private areas for grad students, I am all for it.
Barnes & Noble’s may be corporate, and they may be ugly, but they make books available to everyone and let you read unmolested. Books are a commodity and B&N treats them as such. Books are not knowledge. Books are not research. Books are not what we are about.
FYI: The focus groups have already been scheduled and will happen on Monday only(see the times listed in the previous post).
I thought it would be good to use this blog to discuss the planned firestone renovations. If you’re interested in taking part in the focus groups on monday and tuesday of next week, please email Dottie Pearson (pearson@princeton.edu). It would be great if those who attend could report back on this blog. There may seem to be alarming proposals afoot, but also some laudable aims like improving disability access and improving the study spaces, which are less than adequate.