Undergraduate students recently started a petition in response to proposed renovations to Alderman Library that would include removing books from the main library to an off-site facility on Ivy Road.
Charlotte Morford, director of external communications for the library system, said the renovations are necessary because Alderman Library is 75 years old and various issues — including mechanical, electrical, plumbing and heating and air conditioning problems — are becoming “increasingly difficult and expensive to fix.”
Morford said the renovations include bringing the library into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and updating the building with sustainable, cost-effective systems.
“The purpose of the renovations — if and when they happen — are to bring this beloved but well-worn building into the 21st century,” Morford said in an email statement. “The situation isn’t great for students or books — we want to make it better.”
Fourth-year College student Vanessa Braganza said she attended a meeting where library officials discussed the potential for building a second facility on Ivy Road to house books and possibly removing books offsite during renovations.
The University’s Ivy Stacks Storage Facility currently houses 700,000 volumes of materials and books which can be requested from the facility for delivery to libraries on Grounds.
Braganza said she agrees with the need to update the library, but the “Keep the Books in Alderman” petition on Change.org was started in order to “fully support the permanent retention of all physical materials in Alderman Library, including books and microfilm, that are currently housed there.”
“I don’t think anyone is contesting the idea that the building needs a little tender love and care. It would be fantastic for it to be cleaned up,” Braganza said. “It would fantastic for it to be updated so that it’s a better facility for the books, which is what people use it for. So what I hope what the petition will do is to ensure this.”
Morford said students would have easy access to any books moved during renovations. She also said the University is in the planning stages of an expansion to the Ivy Stacks.
“The collections scholars [to] need keep growing and our current facilities — including Alderman — are rapidly running out of space. We add around 35,000 books per year,” Morford said. “The goal is to have as many books as possible on Central Grounds and to have collections that are convenient for students and faculty.”
Morford said if any books were temporarily removed from Alderman during renovations, the library system is committed to having a reading room, check-out, shuttle and delivery services and parking at the Ivy Stacks.
However, petition supporters do not think the new changes would be convenient for students.
“To retrieve books from this facility there would be a reading room attached and students would have to be bused out this facility where they can ask for a book to be called up and then read it in the reading room,” Braganza said. “This is highly inefficient in terms of time and in students’ daily lives. ”
Braganza said she does not want books to be removed permanently and wants to ensure any books removed during renovations would be returned to the library.
“I would like for the petition to accomplish a guarantee that books will not be moved offsite from Alderman in the course of renovation but after the renovation, Alderman would house the same number of books that it did before,” Braganza said.
Morford said there are multiple stakeholders involved in any decisions to be made about the library including students, faculty, the University’s executive administration, the Board of Visitors and alumni.
The petition shows the “energy and passion” students have for the library, Morford said.
“We will carefully gather all concerns and ideas noted in the petition, and they’ll be part of the information that gets considered when — and if — the renovation enters the planning stages,” she said.
“There will always be books here. This is U.Va.,” Morford said.
Renovations to the library are yet to officially enter the planning stages. The University is waiting for a decision from the General Assembly and then a full discussion of what the funding and scope of the project will look like.
The petition currently has over 400 signatures.
Correction: This article previously inaccurately stated Braganza saying she did not want any books to be removed temporarily from Alderman Library.
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