Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

NewsHouse: SU students, library officials and others discuss one of the library’s growing challenges: Too many books.

Friday, December 11, 2009, By News Staff
Share

Student Savanna Kemp felt outraged when she heard the Syracuse University Library planned to move 100,000 books per year to a storage facility more than four hours away.

Kemp organized a Facebook group in opposition to the plan, which attracted nearly 350 students, and spoke out at Student Association and University Senate meetings about the dilemma. After hearing the opinions of Kemp and other students, library officials put the plan on hold last month. 

“It was really heartening to see we were listened to,” says Kemp, a junior majoring in English and women’s studies.

Kemp and more than 100 others turned out for a forum at E.S. Bird Library on Dec. 9. The hour and a half-long forum, called “What is a Library?”, featured questions from the audience about the library’s priorities heading into the future.

The meeting centered on the plan to relocate the books to a warehouse in Patterson, N.Y. The goal of the plan, library officials say, was to make more study space for students and to create additional capacity for new collections. 

Charlotte Hess, associate dean of collections for research and scholarly communication, says she regularly sees every seat taken on the first three floors of the library.

“They’re working, they’re using it,” she says. “I would hate to see it go away.”

Hess says keeping the books in Syracuse could mean taking away additional study space for students. She says the library did extensive research and explored every possible option before deciding on the plan to relocate the books to the storage facility.

“There are a lot of perceptions about the decisions that were made that weren’t accurate,” she says.

Dale King, an assistant dean for the library, says that of the $17 million annual library budget, $7 million is appropriated for collections. About $9.3 million goes to salary and benefits, which only leaves about $700,000 for additional improvements to the library each year. King emphasizes that the library does not have that much extra cash to make these changes and improvements.

Kemp sees the tight budget as part of a larger problem.

“They have this master plan but they have no money to go through with it,” she says, adding that the university needs to set aside a larger budget for the library.

Hess says the library is continuing to evaluate its options and will take into consideration the feedback that it received from those who attended the Dec. 9 session.

“If this did nothing else than help people understand that there are different needs, than that is a positive outcome.,” she says.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Maxwell’s Robert Rubinstein Honored With 2025 Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching
    Tuesday, July 15, 2025, By News Staff
  • National Ice Cream Day: We Tried Every Special at ’Cuse Scoops So You Don’t Have To
    Tuesday, July 15, 2025, By News Staff
  • Message From Chief Student Experience Officer Allen W. Groves
    Monday, July 14, 2025, By News Staff
  • Haowei Wang Named Maxwell School Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations
    Monday, July 14, 2025, By News Staff
  • LaunchPad Awards Student Start-Up Fund Grant
    Saturday, July 12, 2025, By Cristina Hatem

More In Campus & Community

Lender Center Researcher Studies Veterans’ Post-Service Lives, Global Conflict Dynamics

Corri Zoli ’91, G’93, G’04 was recently named a research associate of the Lender Center for Social Justice. She applies social science, law and public policy perspectives to problems of warfare, governance in modern human conflicts and the role of…

Maxwell’s Robert Rubinstein Honored With 2025 Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching

Robert Rubinstein, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and professor of international relations in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is the recipient of the 2025 Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching. The prize is awarded annually to a faculty member…

National Ice Cream Day: We Tried Every Special at ’Cuse Scoops So You Don’t Have To

National Ice Cream Day is coming up on Sunday, July 20, and what better way to celebrate than with a brain freeze and a sugar rush? Armed with spoons and an unshakable sense of duty, members of the Syracuse University…

Message From Chief Student Experience Officer Allen W. Groves

Dear Members of the Orange Community: It is with profound sadness that I write to remember two members of our Syracuse University community, whose lives were cut short last Thursday when they were struck by a vehicle at the intersection…

Haowei Wang Named Maxwell School Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations

Haowei Wang, assistant professor of sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, has been named the Yang Ni and Xiaoqing Li Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations for the 2025-26 academic year. Wang’s one-year appointment began on July 1….

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.