To the Editor,
After a recent visit, I have concerns about UNCP’s Mary Livermore Library.
You must use a librarian to search for anything; there’s no onsite online catalog. When I insisted on self-searching, the librarian sent me to the only public computer, in the second floor Government Documents Room. Prior to the renovation, anyone could use the first floor computers (now a cafe) and second floor computers. Forcing anyone to search through a librarian strips them of privacy. This is against the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.
Without onsite computers, no one can access the Internet and online materials, including Livermore’s digital archive. In 1994, the UNC Library system committed to being an Information Highway, i.e., a Internet conduit for rural North Carolina. Livermore’s holdings are broader than our public libraries’.
The Livermore Library is getting rid of hard copies quickly. At the last, barely-publicized, book sale, they set out tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of books and sold relatively few. The remains were trashed. A recent The Pine Needle article stated that no library would take the unsold books. It seems Livermore Library only asked other Government Documents Repository libraries as if the materials were government documents instead of general interest and scholarly books. Livermore Library could have legally given the materials to libraries, schools, prisons, social service organizations and more.
A UNC system program allows libraries to share access to hard copies to clear shelf room, but deaccession is voluntary and Livermore has some empty shelves. Students need onsite hard copies for research for courses with short deadlines. Inter-Library Loan takes weeks to deliver.
Materials specific to UNCP, Robeson County, and Native American Studies grow scarcer. All microfilms, including The Robesonian, Fayetteville Observer, are gone. Few Robesonian issues are online. Online resources will never replace all hard copy materials.
As a member of the UNCP Friends of the Library, and along with UNCP and the community, I value Livermore. Denying or limiting access to library resources disenfranchises faculty, students and community members, in opposition to the school’s history and purpose: to educate, especially Robeson County Native Americans, and so that they can educate others.
Vibrina Coronado
Pembroke
