Out west with the old, in with the new

The University of Manitoba wants to move books that are rarely checked out of its overcrowded libraries to an out-of-province storage facility.

Senate, the board in charge of academic matters at U of M, is slated to vote Wednesday on whether the administration should enter a new contract with the University of Calgary.

Supporters of the proposal say it will free up study space and ensure aging resources are properly cared for at a state-of-the-art site.

Critics are concerned about the consequences of relocating a physical collection and that shipping, both initially and when books are requested, will prove costly.

“It’s a bit contrary to library principles — weeding is not a bad word; it’s a natural part of the process,” said Orvie Dingwall, a librarian and past president of U of M’s faculty association.

Dingwall said there are many expert librarians who can cull collections to make more space before the university entertains mass shipments out west.

Manitoba’s largest university has seven libraries and three satellite locations. It keeps part of its physical collection, which encompasses about 1.7 million items, at fee-for-service warehouses in Winnipeg.

Lisa O’Hara, vice-provost of libraries and chair of the senate committee on libraries, said she’s spent the better part of the last five years searching for a better and more cost-effective set-up.

U of M couldn’t find one locally, either with neighbouring post-secondary institutes or Library and Archives Canada, she said.

Her senate subcommittee has recommended a remote shared collection in Calgary as an interim measure “pending a made-in-Manitoba solution.”

For O’Hara, the tentative agreement is “a win-win” for both members of the U15, Canada’s top research-intensive universities, at a time when academics are increasingly doing their research online.

If it moves ahead, thousands of print materials would be sent to a building with humidity, temperature and dust controls that’s located about 1,300 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

“We don’t have anything like that on our campus. Our libraries are in buildings that are 70 years old, some of them…. A lot of our collections are actually deteriorating on the shelf,” O’Hara said about those of which are printed on acidic paper.

The collaboration would give the universities access to each other’s physical books. It is estimated to increase the resources available to the U of M community by about 500,000 items.

Students and faculty members in Winnipeg would be able to request a scanned chapter or physical transfer back to the city on U of M’s dime.

In exchange for access to a modern and spacious library, U of M would pay an Albertan’s salary to take care of its books.

The Calgary-based employee would work under O’Hara’s predecessor and former boss; Mary-Jo Romaniuk left U of M to manage the University of Calgary’s library and cultural resources in 2018.

Dingwall, one of the representatives on senate elected by the faculty council, questioned whether there’s a conflict of interest.

The librarian-senator noted employees are concerned about the speed of this decision, by internal standards, and lack of collegial process involved in it.

The solution to longstanding space constraints appeared to be “fully rubber stamped” when it was initially presented about six months ago, she said.

“The University of Manitoba is a research place for all Manitobans and for the collection of Manitoba, and I just worry about making a snap decision,” Dingwall said, noting it will be incredibly difficult to move books back once they are gone.

University president Michael Benarroch said the candidates for out-of-province storage have not been checked out for at least a decade.

The pitch responds to general storage constraints and student concerns that there are not enough study spaces on campus, Benarroch said.

Just over half of students polled in a 2024 survey indicated they felt U of M’s library study spaces met their needs.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca