Oxford University is facing a major revolt over a multi-million-pound library overhaul, that would see millions of books moved to the city's Osney Mead industrial estate.
Transferring one of the world's greatest books collections on to land beside a flood plain was dismissed as "lunacy" by one history don. And there have been warnings that the plan would add to traffic congestion, with books continually having to be shifted across the city centre.
The university is proposing one of the biggest shake-ups of libraries since the Bodleian opened 400 years ago. The overhaul is expected to see up to 10 libraries closed, savings in staff of £562,000 and a change of use for historic buildings such as the Radcliffe Camera. The proposals would also bring a reduction in books stored in the Bodleian complex, with a new library built on the Radcliffe Infirmary site and a huge book depository created at Osney Mead.
The implications for the university's 600 library staff were raised at a meeting in the Examination Schools on Monday. Afterwards, one senior librarian said: "What we had was a pretend discussion. Some people have been given letters asking them to decide whether they want to be downgraded or leave their jobs. Staff are being treated very badly."
James Howard-Johnston, a don at Corpus Christi, said the plan would be strongly opposed by academics. He said: "No-one knew about this. It has been kept a dark secret. The new Vice-Chancellor and his staff pride themselves on transparency, but this is an extraordinary instance of something quite the opposite. Library staff are feeling alarmed and rather menaced."
Mr Howard-Johnston, a former city and county councillor, said moving a large part of the university's book collection to Osney Mead would be "a terrible folly. The university's primary duty is to preserve the book stock and to make it available for scholars. One thing you don't do is put one of the world's most precious book collections in an area next to a flood plain. Nor do I believe that anybody has taken into consideration the traffic consequences, with books having to be carried across to the Radcliffe Infirmary site, through one of the city's worst bottlenecks. The whole thing is lunatic."
The don feared the library scheme would bring major disruption, with academics suspicious that historic buildings would be taken over by administrators. The university said it would be consulting about the change of use of some library facilities, but denied newspaper reports that the 18th-century Radclffe Camera is to become a new visitor centre.
Ronald Milne, acting director of University Library Services, said the Bodleian Library would remain the centrepiece of Oxford's library system, with its facilities enhanced and the New Bodleian to be redeveloped. He said the old library buildings were incapable of containing the hundreds of thousands of new printed items arriving each year and the new Osney Mead depository, housing up to nine million less-used volumes, would provide a fast and cost-effective retrieval system.
Under the scheme, up to ten humanities and departmental libraries would close, with the bulk of their collections moving to a proposed undergraduate library on the Radcliffe Infirmary site in about six years' time.
Mr Milne said he hoped compulsory redundancies could be avoided, with substantial savings coming from non-replacement of staff. He said millions of pounds would be invested in the new library programme, with the University committed to ensuring its collection was accessible to readers either in person, or increasingly through electronic means. Oxford University Library Services is responsible for 40 libraries at sites across Oxford, with the current depository sited in Nuneham Courtenay.
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