Times are tough and getting tougher. Amidst a faltering economy and bleak job market, we all have had to scale back in one way or another.
Within the Georgetown community, we have seen this crisis play out in a few different ways. The university endowment fund has depreciated. Hundreds, if not thousands, of alumni are facing scant job prospects in the finance sector. Construction of the long-awaited campus science center has been halted.
In times like these, we all need to reassess our priorities and consider making cuts. But even as the university searches for ways to reduce its operating budget, long-term priorities should not be abandoned.
And what should be long-term priority number one? The rehabilitation of Lauinger Library. Though this monument to mediocrity isn’t at the top of the administration’s list, it should be.
We need a new science center, and one way or another, Georgetown’s future as an elite research university may depend on its eventual construction. But updating Lauinger is more important – and not just because it’s physically ugly, outdated and decrepit. (Earlier this semester, for instance, Lauinger’s ceiling was leaking so much that many stacks had to be covered with blue tarp to protect them from water damage.)
In its current configuration, Lauinger stifles the intellectual life of our community. With only a handful of meeting rooms and woefully inadequate study space, it remains stuck in an obsolete notion of what a library should be. In the 21st century, a library must be more than a warehouse for storing books.
A look at the libraries of Georgetown’s peer institutions – and even, to our horror, of some secondary schools – puts Lauinger’s deficiencies into stark relief. In Brigham Young University Magazine, Randy Olsen, a BYU alumnus, praised the way that BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library “draws in information-hungry students and faculty and sends them out enriched with knowledge, the very lifeblood of a university.” It’s hard to imagine anyone saying something like that at Georgetown.
Even with the hustle and bustle that comes to Lauinger with the arrival of final exams, we hardly expect to see anyone lingering for any longer than they have to. A new or renovated Lauinger should address this problem by creating a space that’s more hospitable to academic contemplation. While administrators and faculty bemoan the intellectual listlessness of the student body (read last year’s Intellectual Life Report for a sample), the state of the library does nothing to resolve the perceived problem.
Despite these sad truths – and many frequent Lauinger visitors will tell you just how sad they are – problems like these do not necessarily call for the expenditure of precious funds for an entire new building. We appreciate the efforts already underway to reconfigure the second floor study space, and we applaud the librarians for making the most of limited resources.
But more must be done. Though the university has plans to expand Lauinger, it must make specific proposals and follow through on them. Vague promises of future development are not enough. Changes must reflect the need for expanded study and meeting space, and for the development of a more inviting learning environment. Lauinger must become a destination, not a mark of shame on our campus.
We understand that the timing is not ideal, but there is rarely an opportune time for substantial change to university institutions. If Georgetown is serious about committing to the intellectual growth of its students, it must make Lauinger the top priority, rather than resigning itself to embarrassment and academic stagnancy.
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