NUS to give out 8,500 of 9,000 Yale-NUS library books set for ‘recycling’ at book fair, apologises for limited outreach

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has apologised for the "operational lapse" that led to hundreds of books from Yale-NUS College library being sent for disposal on May 20.

In a May 21 statement, NUS university librarian, associate professor Natalie Pang, said the books involved were "excess books" that were not taken up by other libraries and faculty members when offered.

At a press conference on the same day, Pang told the media that she was "aghast" to hear that the books were being picked up by the recycling company, despite students expressing interest in them.

She added that around 500 books out of the 9,000 "excess books" were "recycled", while the remaining 8,500 titles will be given out during two upcoming book fairs held by NUS.

36,000 books 'rehomed'

According to Pang, the entire Yale-NUS College library had around 45,000 books, of which 36,000 titles, or 80 per cent of the collection, have been "rehomed" across different libraries in NUS.

About 9,000 of the books were set to be "recycled" under the current standard operating procedure (SOP), as they were duplicates, had under-utilisation rates, and were not "rehomed", added Pang.

Amongst these "excess books", about 500 were picked up by the recycling company on May 20.

Upon learning of the students' interest, the university tried to call the company to retrieve the books, even offering the recycling company money to "turn back" and to sort out the books themselves, said Pang.

However, the company was unable to do so due to "logistical constraints".

Pang apologised for the "operational lapse", adding that the remaining 8,500 books would be given away through two book fairs in May and June.

Adopting new SOP

Moving forward, Pang shared that the university libraries will adopt a new SOP, which aims to "extend the shelf life and life cycle of the books".

She acknowledged that their outreach to faculty members this time round in giving away the books was not “extensive” enough.

“I think there's no two ways about it. We have to own it, and we will do better,” she said.

The new SOP will ensure that they still reach out to faculty but in a “much more extensive way”.

When pressed about why the outreach was not as extensive this time around, Pang attributed the relocation of Yale-NUS College faculty as one of the factors:

"I think when the library staff, actually, when they were doing their outreach to faculty, the usual practice is they try to default to the existing faculty left. So, in this case, it is Yale-NUS faculty. So, I think what we didn't also really have full knowledge of, is where Yale-NUS faculty might be moving to. So we were able to reach out to some, but not all."

Incorporate NUS community in future outreach

Concurrently, the university libraries also plan to incorporate students and other members of the NUS community in future outreach, revealed Pang.

While previous experience showed “low demand” for many of the titles NUS libraries usually put out, she noted that this incident has shown otherwise.

“This incident has also shown us that there are lessons to learn from this. There is indeed interest,” shared Pang.

She thanked students and other members of the NUS community, including alumni, for expressing their “strong support and interest”.

Pang added that other measures the university libraries are exploring include book adoption fairs and working with secondhand platforms, such as Thryft, to find the books a new home.

Addressing speculations

Pang also refuted claims online that one of the reasons why the books could not be donated was due to the difficulty in removing the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags.

“That's absolutely untrue, so I want to dispel that,” Pang said. “If somebody wants a book, there are processes in place to desensitise the tag.”

When asked if certain genres of books were singled out in the disposal, Pang denied it as well: “Absolutely not. I think you just have to look at our collections to see how our programming is like.”

“We do not shy away from topics associated with race, religion, indigenous communities, and so on,” she added.

Pang said that they do not exclude or discriminate against publications based on content or perspectives.

"We recognize the importance of books as a valuable and treasured source of knowledge for education and research. The diversity of our collection across genres, subjects and themes reflects our commitment to intellectual discourse, critical inquiry and open exploration of ideas."

Complaints

Pang's response came in the wake of complaints that the incident could have been dealt with greater transparency and with more data released.

Prior to the press conference, two faculty members of NUS told Mothership that they were not informed of any offer to take the "excess books".

One of the faculty members, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, "I can find no record of being offered books from the Yale-NUS library. Had I known of such a giveaway, I would certainly have shared the news with students."

Another faculty member, who wishes to be known as Andrew, also said he "wasn't told anything" about the book giveaway.

Other questions remain unanswered: alumni

Besides faculty members, NUS alumni also raised issues with the university's initial response, pointing out that some key information, such as the number of books involved, was missing.

An NUS alumnus, who wishes to be known only as Josh, said that while he was "grateful" for the offer to organise a giveaway on campus and NUS libraries' response, the initial statement did not disclose "the number of books that were shredded" after the incident.

He also pointed to a petition issued by a group of NUS alumni, students, and members of the public, which asked the NUS administration to offer clarifications on matters, such as alternative methods of disposal it had considered for the books.

Josh had said before Pang's disclosure on May 21: "I hope NUS is willing to answer questions the community has raised in its petition, such as the true number of books lost yesterday (May 20) and what factors or decisions led to the rushed disposal we saw."

His sentiments were echoed by Ryan Yeo, a graduate from the class of 2024, who wrote in an Instagram post that "NUS needs to be held accountable" for allegedly shredding the books, some of which were of pristine condition.

"A half-baked apology won't bring them back, and it will not stop this from happening again," read the post.

Yeo also contended that NUS could have handled the books better, and it "knew Yale-NUS was closing and had four years to prepare for it".

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Top images by Khine Zin Htet/Mothership and Mothership reader