Mcgill denies medical library is to be closed

But dean doesn’t rule out possibility

McGill University’s faculty of medicine has moved swiftly to dispel a highly contentious rumour that its Life Sciences Library would be closing.

But the denial doesn’t explain why staff at McGill’s oldest library were summoned to a meeting last Monday and told it was 90 per cent certain that the library, in the McIntyre Medical Building, would close and merge with the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering.

The outrage was swift and many are still rattled despite a letter from the dean of medicine saying the library would not be closing.

“We still need to be vigilant,” said Angella Lambrou, a liaison librarian with the Life Sciences Library. “I think the reason the letter (from McGill saying the library is not closing) went out was from the reaction it got.”

Lambrou quickly set up a Facebook page last week, called Save the McGill Life Sciences Library from Closure, and had almost 1,500 “likes” as of Monday.

“Everyone was in shock,” Lambrou said. “The library staff, the faculty and the students.”

She said the dean of libraries, Colleen Cook, convened staff last week and said it was 90 per cent certain the library — the oldest medical library in the country — would close.

“There was no consultation and it was the wrong thing to do,” Lambrou said. “The library has a huge user base. It is packed every day.”

Dr. David Eidelman, the dean of medicine, sent out a letter on Friday saying the library is not slated for closing, nor is the Osler Library in the McIntyre building closing. “I have not approved any such decision.”

He did say, however, that “the current budgetary context, together with the ongoing evolution of the way in which faculty members and students use library services, makes it necessary that we reexamine the way in which we provide library services.”

Quebec’s universities were hit with unexpected budget cuts this year, and McGill has been forced to trim about $19 million from its operating budget.

Eidelman said a reorganization of library services is coming, but promised consultation with faculty and students before any final decisions are made.

“The faculty’s goal is to optimize the use of the Life Sciences Library space,” Eidelman said.

“This could mean, for example, moving book stacks and optimizing the space for such things as individual study and small group learning.”

His letter said “we know that the traditional use of the library as a resource for paper-based references is in decline.”

Lambrou, however, said the library, which was founded in 1823 in a different location, provides study space for students who rely on the librarians “to guide them through the maze of information” they require.

Students may have more information than ever at their fingertips, she said, but medical students come into the library with assignments or clinical problems and they need help navigating the system.

As someone wrote on the Facebook page: “Librarians are now critical partners in almost every area of disease and life-science research.”

Although asked several times on Monday why that meeting announcing the imminent closure was convened, McGill officials never gave a straight answer. But people at the meeting last week said Cook had confirmed Eidelman’s support for the move.

Staff was told the library had to cut $1.8 million from the operating budget of the library system.

Lambrou can only guess that the quick and intense reaction to what was presented as an almost final decision persuaded the university that going ahead with the closure — particularly without any consultation of stakeholders — was a big mistake.

“Closure of the library would be a significant loss for members of our community who rely on it,” she said. “It would have serious repercussions for generations of students, clinicians, scientists and researchers.”