Earlier this week, a column by professor Joshua Katz appeared in The Daily Princetonian in which he expressed some concerns about planned renovations to Firestone Library, specifically the removal of nearly one-third of its books. Though the plans have not been formally adopted, they highlight a number of important issues about the nature of the University's libraries. Independent work is at the heart of the University; the ability to walk into an open-stack library and look for books on virtually any topic is crucial to the institution. Though online research is a highly relevant tool, not everything can be found on the Internet — a top research library that is well funded and full in scope is the best way of achieving excellence in research and scholarship. With this in mind, any attempt to subordinate the primary role of Firestone Library — providing access to knowledge, usually in written form — would be a travesty.
It is true, as the renovation plan proposes, that there could be more study spaces in our largest library, and the building itself is in need of renovation. The move to fix Firestone, however, shouldn't compromise the wellbeing of its most important component: the books. Rather than removing the integral element of the library to address more incidental concerns, study spaces and administrative offices — like those incomprehensibly taking up space on the library's second floor — could be housed in new physical additions to Firestone or reorganized to maximize the existing layout of the building. A bolder move would be to incorporate a new library and study space into the planned Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, or perhaps even Frick Laboratory, after it is vacated by the chemistry department.
The value of a library lies in its books. Removal of these necessary objects would change Firestone from a place of discovery into a large but empty building. One of the most worthwhile features of Princeton is a venerable store of printed resources — a university that values this hallmark would do everything in its power to keep it from disappearing.
Matthew Halgren '09 recused himself in participating in this vote.
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