A state Senator has introduced a bill to prevent the Vermont State College system from implementing a plan to create digital libraries and remove physical books from the facilities.
The Vermont State Colleges will become Vermont State University on July 1st. As part of the transition, trustees and the system’s new president announced in early February that the libraries on the four campuses would become all digital. The uproar over the plan to remove books and cut staff resulted in a revised plan to keep special collections and archives and any academically valuable books that had been checked out between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2022. A small “neighborhood library” for casual reading would also be maintained.
The updated plan is still not palatable to many including Vermont state Senator Brian Collamore. The Rutland Republican has introduced legislation to stem the university system’s plans.
“We’re in a very unique situation," Collamore said. "The state college system operates as an independent entity. So when the decision came out regarding the closing of libraries, the laying off of staff and librarians, and the athletic decisions that were made, the outcry was very loud and I felt that we needed to at least send a message to both the administration of the college system and to the chancellor to the extent we can.”
Collamore’s legislation was introduced last Thursday and was referred to the Senate Education Committee. But that was the day before the legislature’s so-called cross-over day when bills must be voted out of the committee of jurisdiction to be able to cross over to the other chamber. While it did not make cross over, Collamore says there are other options to move his proposal forward.
“It just says the bill proposes to prohibit the Vermont State Colleges from closing or reducing in size or scope the operation of the physical libraries on any of their campuses without legislative approval and would also prohibit them from reducing the number of positions, employees or employee hours, etc., etc.," the senator said. "So it’s pretty straightforward. So it could always be introduced as a n amendment to anything else that comes out of the Senate Education Committee. And in the end, it could also probably be included in an appropriations amendment. But that’s a little bit further down the path, if you will.”
Asked to respond to the new legislation, Vermont State Colleges Director of External and Governmental Affairs Katherine Levasseur said the system has been working since 2020 with lawmakers to put the college system on a path to sustainability.
“There was a report issued in 2021 to put the system on a path for sustainability," Levasseur said. "The plan to transform the libraries is one small piece of it. And we know that in order to achieve the goals that they’ve outlined for us we have to do things differently to be more sustainable, more academically relevant and to meet the needs of our students.”
“But Katherine," interjected Pat Bradley, "that doesn’t really tell me what the reaction to Collamore’s bill is.”
“We appreciate the passion and the support from lawmakers," replied Levasseur. "They have been engaged with us since day one helping us chart this path forward. We need flexibility from them to do that work and this is one small piece of what we need to do in the big picture of transformation.”
Senator Collamore’s district includes Castleton University, which is a part of the Vermont State College system.
