Yale-NUS library books: Staff unaware of students' interest; 500 titles recycled

SINGAPORE: Library staff at the National University of Singapore (NUS) "did not realise" that students would be interested in excess books from Yale-NUS College - an oversight, said the university librarian, that led to hundreds of titles being sent to a recycling plant.

The college, which is scheduled to close this year, had been preparing for renovations ahead of the relocation of the NUS law faculty and its library to its premises, Associate Professor Natalie Pang told reporters on Wednesday (May 21).

As a result, the collection of 45,000 books at the Yale-NUS College library had to be moved. About 80 per cent - 36,000 books - were rehomed to various NUS libraries, other universities or given to faculty members. 

The remaining 20 per cent - around 9,000 books - were slated for recycling as a "last resort" in line with common library practices, said Assoc Prof Pang. These excess books were duplicates or had "low utilisation rates".

Of these, 500 books have been recycled, Assoc Prof Pang said. The process involving the remaining 8,500 was halted after photos and videos of books being packed into trash bags and loaded onto a recycling truck sparked outcry from alumni and students. 

In a statement issued earlier on Wednesday, NUS  apologised for an "operational lapse" in how the books were handled.

Separately, NUS provost and deputy president for academic affairs Professor Aaron Thean also apologised, saying he was sorry that the rehoming process had caused "so much concern". 

The university houses four million volumes of books across seven libraries. 

"This is a big collection, and so any loss of books to us is always heartbreaking. I want to make it clear that all these books mean a lot to us," said Prof Thean. 

Assoc Prof Pang added that library staff did their best to retrieve the 500 books that had already been sent for recycling once they realised there was student interest.

"I was really aghast to realise that the books were being picked up by the recycling company despite students expressing interest." 

The library staff tried calling the company, asking it to turn back. "Unfortunately … it just wasn't possible," she said.

OUTREACH NOT "EXTENSIVE ENOUGH"

Assoc Prof Pang said library staff were not aware that students were interested in the books and "did not actually make enough arrangements" to facilitate access to the titles.

"In our experience organising these book giveaways … whether it's students or members of the NUS community - be it staff or faculty - there's been quite a low demand for many of these titles that we put out," she said. 

"But this incident has also shown us that there are lessons to learn from this. There is indeed interest."

Under existing library practices, excess books are usually offered to faculty first. However, Assoc Prof Pang acknowledged that the outreach in this case was "not extensive enough" and apologised for it.

With the college closing, "what … we didn't also really have full knowledge of is where Yale-NUS faculty might be moving to", the university librarian said, adding that they were able to reach some "but not all". 

"There's no two ways about it," she said. "We have to own it, and we will do better."

Assoc Prof Pang noted that while the library regularly rehomes books, the scale of the operation this time was "much larger" than in past relocation exercises, which typically involved only a few hundred titles.

Looking ahead, she said NUS will introduce a new standard operating procedure (SOP) - to be applied across all university libraries - that will involve more extensive outreach to faculty and incorporate outreach to students as well.

The university librarian also dispelled claims from some students that books could not be donated due to RFID tags, calling them "absolutely untrue". 

"If, let's say, a book has an RFID tag and somebody wants a book, there are processes in place to desensitise the tag and also put a certain chop on it so that people know it's a book that's been adopted." 

Two book adoption fairs will be held - one from May 28 to Jun 9 and the other on Jun 14. The first is open to Yale-NUS alumni and families. The second will be open to the wider NUS community.

For any remaining titles that are still not rehomed after these events, NUS will partner with secondhand platforms such as Thryft to find new homes for the books.

"Essentially, what I'm trying to do with this new SOP is to extend the shelf life and the life cycle of the books," said Assoc Prof Pang.