Pro Argument
By: AJ Gunning
We have recently learned that Penrose decided to move 80 percent of their book collection to another location.
Some of these books will be donated or thrown away and some will be kept in an off-campus storehouse available to those who order them online.
This has many students rightfully disgruntled. After all, isn’t the whole purpose of a library to carry large numbers of relatively unused books so that when a student does need a somewhat obscure book, the library is there to provide it?
Some may argue that 20 percent of the books receive 80 percent of the traffic, and they are probably right. However, the many people who will go into the library and are unable to find the book they are looking for because it has been destroyed, given away or is in storage, should be considered.
Furthermore, many people, while searching for a specific book that is perhaps used a lot more, will browse the surrounding books that are similar in topic to the book they requested, and may find further reading material just in the search for one of these “popular” books.
However, if Penrose removes 80 percent of their collection, it will be a lot more difficult to find related reading materials that are not used as much but may be vital for research and papers.
As much as I appreciate DU trying to update Penrose by making it more modern, it should not do this at the sacrifice of losing its primary purpose as a library.
Getting rid of or moving 80 percent of the collection makes it seem like DU is more interested in turning Penrose into a glorified Internet café than they are in an updated library.
Although providing more computers and better Internet service and features is helpful, they should not forget that one of the primary reasons anyone goes to the library in the first place is to dig up print sources for their papers.
I support the students who are acting in response to Penrose’s sudden decision and hope that their activism will prove effective.
Con Argument
By: Dylan Proietti
With the renovations of Penrose rapidly approaching, an increasing number of students are questioning the university’s decision to move the library’s more than 1 million books to a warehouse in Lakewood, Colo.
The rationale for the move is that there are thousands of books that have not been checked out in more than 10 years and students’ increasing dependence on Internet searches.
It seems foolish to spend time and manpower to take back a portion of books that have never even left the confines of the library and most likely have not been touched since their original shelving.
Though efforts like Savepenrose.com and the Facebook group “Keep the Penrose Library Book Collection on Campus” show the dedication and drive of the student body, I question their protests.
Books that are housed in the Hampden Center will still be readily available through the “Request It” feature offered even now by Penrose.
Thinking in terms of limited space availability, it makes sense to leave the least-used books, thousands of which have yet to leave the library, in an off-campus storage facility.
This will give the library more opportunities to improve the use of space within Penrose, be it through an increased number of group or independent study rooms, larger space for computer workstations or any other improvements the library should choose to make.
Simply put, this seems to be nothing more than students pining after unused books, books that they themselves have yet to use.
To those students fighting to keep the books on campus, I ask what will be the purpose these books will serve once they grace the shelves of Penrose once more?
As of now, they serve as dust-collectors and are quite effective at filling up space. I fear that this will continue to be their fate if they are returned after their brief stint in the Hampden Center.
While student activism is important and these groups clearly have drive, I’m afraid their efforts will be for naught unless some real need for these books is demonstrated.
