"Bringing people and books together"

UZH intends to modernize its libraries. A preliminary project designated "UZH Library of the Future" is currently under consultation. Vice President Christian Schwarzenegger, Greek scholar Christoph Riedweg, mathematician Joachim Rosenthal, and political science student Lukas Buser discuss the plans.

Discussion led by: David Werner, Stefan Stöcklin; translated by Michael Craig

You all use UZH library services. What, for you, does a good university library have to provide?

Lukas Buser: I use the library mainly as a place to study and work, as well as somewhere where I can meet and talk with my fellow students. As far as the material is concerned, practically all documents are available digitally. I mostly work with PDF documents that I download, and rarely use analog media such as printed books.

Joachim Rosenthal: Access to research literature and journals is important for me as a user. This increasingly happens digitally. In this respect I'm well served by the Main Library. The growing importance of the SNSF and European Research Council guidelines on open access and open access repositories will confront UZH with some complex questions.

Christoph Riedweg: For me as a classicist, and for people in the humanities in general, the departmental library is our lifeblood – our lab. We can access holdings in our very own department, and I can look things up anytime without any problem. For me as a scholar of books and texts that's absolutely vital. Even though digital tools have long been part of our routine as well, printed books are still a key resource – especially since not all books by any means have been digitized, and books have an important function that complements the new media.

Christian Schwarzenegger, as Vice President you're responsible for the UZH library project, but as a law scholar you're also a user. How would you rate what's on offer in your discipline?

Christian Schwarzenegger: Most of the basic literature is available digitally, although in most cases we also still stick to the traditional model of publication via publishers.  To my mind the transition from analog to digital media could be happening faster in law – for example in terms of digital access to all cantonal court rulings. I would also like more support when it comes to publishing on open access platforms. While there is a contact point at the Main Library, it's still in the process of being set up and isn't yet able to offer support in all subjects.

To what extent do UZH libraries offer the desired services, and where is there room for improvement?

Riedweg: In my subject we already have a more or less ideal library environment. Thanks to the fact there's so far been sufficient funding available, we have a superbly stocked departmental library with an excellent working environment; we also have a very efficient working arrangement with the Zentralbibliothek, which provides the key cross-departmental digital resources.

Rosenthal: Having spent a lot of time in the US, I'm astonished that we don't have a central library organization. The Main Library on Irchel Campus is for all intents and purposes a library for natural sciences and medicine, a role it performs well. But it's not fully representative of UZH as a whole. I think we need a central organization (UBZH) with know-how in all the special issues involved. The issues around procuring information in a modern university have become complex, and a central unit like the UBZH is the best approach if we want to formulate and implement a joint strategy.

Schwarzenegger: All over the world libraries are in the process of expanding their remit, and everywhere we're seeing libraries offering new services around digital research and publication to enable researchers to continue doing top research. 

Buser: For me one of the upsides of the current situation is the proximity of the departments to the libraries. Another positive point is that the libraries are headed up by people who are familiar with the relevant specialist disciplines. On the downside, there’s a serious lack of workspaces for students, and the additional administrative expense the decentralized organizational structure entails. Better use could be made of this money.

What's your take on the costs, Christian Schwarzenegger?

Schwarzenegger: I agree. The costs of the Zurich library system, including the Zentralbibliothek that doubles as a university library, are almost twice those of other comparable set-ups.

Riedweg: According to the preliminary project study, the difference compared with Basel is only 5.7 percent. If you consider the many other duties the Zentralbibliothek performs in its capacity as a cantonal and city library, the costs of the Zurich system are probably somewhere around the Swiss average. The fact that many departmental libraries are housed in villas is the result of previous cantonal policy, which has nothing to do with library-specific decisions.

Schwarzenegger: The new cantonal structural plan has created a window for improving and rationalizing the use of space at UZH and locating associated disciplines closer together again.

Rosenthal: If at the same time we manage to organize our libraries more coherently, we can use the 36 million francs they currently cost us every year to provide a substantially better service, as well as creating more jobs in the Forum UZH for students. 

Schwarzenegger: We urgently need to move our libraries forward. UZH is currently far from being a pioneer in this respect.

But there are still concerns, for example among students. How would you describe the mood, Lukas Buser?

Buser: Opinions among students vary widely. For this reason the VSUZH has decided to deal with the consultation in a number of stages and involve the student associations as well. We're also organizing public events. The issue has mobilized humanities and theology students much more than those in the natural sciences and medicine.

Riedweg: That's no wonder given that the Faculty of Science is hardly affected by the project.

Rosenthal: Because we already have most of the reform behind us.

Buser: In the humanities, there are fears that too little account will be taken of specific research methods. People are worried that large portions of the holdings will be put in store in closed stacks, meaning it's no longer possible to browse.

How important is it for you personally to be able to browse shelves?

Buser: For me personally it doesn't matter, but for many of my fellow humanities students it's extremely important.

Rosenthal: As a mathematician I also like to browse. Browsing has gotten more interesting now that our book holdings have been merged with other departmental libraries, because you also come across interesting literature in related disciplines such as physics.

Schwarzenegger: It's now also possible to enable virtual browsing using a virtual library bookshelf.

Riedweg: As long as not everything has been digitized and these systems aren't in place, virtual browsing isn't an option for the humanities. What bothers me about the UZH Library of the Future project is the way real estate management is interfering with library-specific questions. The Forum UZH should be a growth project, but instead it's now being used to reduce the area reserved for the humanities. There are fears that the specialized libraries will see large parts of their open stacks amputated as books are relegated to closed stacks.

Schwarzenegger: In the future, most books will still be available in the libraries. It's misinformation to say that we'll put them in closed stacks and make them available only on order.

How do you imagine the future of the libraries?

Schwarzenegger: We want to bring people and books together. We want the humanities and all other disciplines to flourish and enjoy ideal conditions – not just by today's standards, but by the standards of the future. The libraries shouldn't just be repositories of books. They should also become an attractive place to be and work, with a smart offering of digital services. We intend to more than double the number of workspaces for students.

Is centralizing the libraries in spatial and organizational terms a fundamental problem from the point of view of the humanities, Christoph Riedweg?

Riedweg: I see the long-term plans to bring together the departments and libraries in the City Campus on the Schanzenberg as a great opportunity and a bright prospect, and I think a reasonable amount of organizational coordination is necessary and welcome. What's annoying is that in the preliminary project so much has been decided over the heads of those directly affected. Reforms that affect the whole university have to be negotiated democratically. The university is an expert organization, not a commercial enterprise, and the power to decide, including on matters related to libraries, lies not with the management, but with the experts at grass roots level.

Schwarzenegger: That applies to academic and teaching matters, but not to the way the infrastructure is organized. The university management has to make sure a library system is in place that gives researchers access to the media they require. When it comes to modern digital library technologies, we have to find solutions for the whole university – together, of course. The library project is being run on very integrative lines, with various stages where everyone involved can have a say. Only when it comes to spatial development there's less scope for decision-making, because so much is already laid down in cantonal policy.

In natural sciences, mathematics and medicine, departmental holdings have been centralized in the Main Library. What's your impression, Joachim Rosenthal?

Rosenthal: With us, everything used to be very fragmented and confusing, and there were a lot of obstacles to cross-disciplinary research. In 2005 we introduced standardized classification for all books in mathematics in accordance with Library of Congress guidelines. For the last eight years or so the mathematics library has been fully integrated in the Main Library. The opening hours for students are now substantially longer, and the terms of employment have been standardized. The result is very pleasing, and everyone benefits.

Riedweg: The humanities libraries haven't been idle in recent decades either, although in some cases they have had considerable help from the Main Library. Thanks to the Main Library we've had an electronic catalog since 2004/05, and they've always supported us with staff recruitment as well.

Schwarzenegger: But there's still too much that isn't standardized, for example opening hours and training for librarians.

Riedweg: The crucial question for me is who will decide in the future which books are acquired and which aren't.

Schwarzenegger: If every department continues to only look after itself as before, we'll end up with far too many overlaps. Ordering has to be carefully coordinated. Under the model we're proposing, the liaison librarians are responsible for this coordination in close consultation with the professors. The liaison librarians are the links between the library and the individual specialist disciplines. Many libraries all over the world have this role. Liaison librarians know the discipline they're responsible for very well indeed.

Riedweg: In my view the role of liaison librarians is overrated.  At least when it comes to the humanities, acquisition policy is one of the core duties of the professors; no one else has such a close eye on the latest developments. It's absolutely crucial that we continue to have the final say on orders and budgets.

Schwarzenegger: Earmarking fixed budgets for each department is something we could talk about, although I personally believe that in this area more flexible solutions would be better. Whatever the case, the goal has to be to provide researchers in all disciplines with the material and information they need, promptly and reliably.

What's next in the project?

Schwarzenegger: We're in the preliminary phase. The consultation on the current status of planning runs until 26 November. I'm looking forward to the results, which will be thoroughly evaluated and incorporated in the planning. Everyone who's affected will be involved in the planning. This is a priority for me. If everything goes well, the main project will launch next year. It hasn't been an easy start, but I'm confident that we'll work together well as the project proceeds.

Do you have any wishes in terms of library reform?

Riedweg: Our faculty, which with 24 of the 39 individual libraries will be the most heavily affected by the reform, has so far been seriously underrepresented on the steering committee, with only one person. To make sure the views of such a large and heterogeneous faculty are heard, the humanities and social sciences should have at least one representative each. Participation should also be put on a much broader footing, including later on in the governance, where so far only the faculties have been given the right of co-determination.

Buser: The bodies represented in the Extended Executive Board of the University should definitely also be represented in the steering process. Participation shouldn't begin and end with the consultation. All the relevant groups should also be involved in the main project.

Schwarzenegger: I think this desire for the humanities and the bodies represented in the Extended Executive Board of the University to have greater representation on the steering committee is well founded, and has been duly noted. 

Christian Schwarzenegger, what have you learned so far?

Schwarzenegger: The library reform got off to a somewhat rough start. In actual fact we felt that we were taking a very participatory approach and had all the players on board. We need to make some adjustments here. It's astonishing how much false information has also been propagated in the media, and the strong emotions with which matters are being debated.  I've learned how important libraries are to our identity as scholars and scientists.