The Vermont State University (VTSU) libraries have gone through a lot in the past two years, and more is still to come. Currently, students use the library’s resources for classes, studying, tutoring, and printing, but the Willey Library on the Johnson campus has been under renovation since June 2023.
You may have seen library personnel removing books from the shelves, and signs that read “What Happened to The Books?” That work is called “weeding,” and comes in advance of the VTSU nursing program expanding to the Johnson campus, which is expected to use the space on the second floor. Exactly when that is expected to happen is still up in the air, as far as Basement Medicine could discern.
Jeffery Angione, the library circulation coordinator at the Johnson campus said, “The last I heard, the summer 2025 was when they were going to start with construction. I know they have a little over $6 million dollars … that was a state grant to be split between Williston and Johnson.”
Renovations and construction are already underway to bring nursing to the Williston campus, but Angione is unsure that there will be enough funds remaining for the renovations at Johnson. So, the library staff has begun looking into alternatives for the newly empty spaces.
According to Angione, available study rooms are scarce in the library and on the campus, with only one 24-hour lab on the library’s first floor and a computer lab on the second floor of the building. There are not a lot of spaces for students to study outside of library hours and there are no sensory rooms available, which Angione said he’s hoping to get fixed.
Angione said that the library’s John E. Lord Room, located in the back of the library beside the elevators, was originally made to be a “Library Instruction Classroom.” However, library instruction was never part of the experience for first-year students.
He stated, “Unfortunately, Library Instruction is not part of the curriculum.”
Instead, he said the room has been used by instructors and professors to host online classes.
Along with the library’s facility issues, there is a shortage of library staff. Two employees currently work full-time, and a residential librarian has yet to be hired. Other library workers are students with work study jobs.
While some students use their time in the library for study groups, tutoring, and working on assignments, there is hope that the Willey Library will become a livelier place in the future. The library staffers are interested in hearing what students and other community members would like to see in the space moving forward.
Do you have ideas of your own? Feel free to answer the questions below and send your responses to [email protected].
Library Space Questions/Feedback
• How do you use the library spaces?
• Are study rooms set up in a way that is functional/easy to use?
• Are there enough study rooms at the library you go to?
• What is the number one reason you go to the physical library?
• Is there anything that you could see yourself checking out that does not include books?
• What is it about the library space that works well for you?
• What is it about the library space that can improve?
• Would you like to see more flexibility within the spaces?
• Do the library spaces make you feel welcome and invited? Is there anything we can do to improve that?
