The recent decision to move the Music Library from the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts (CFA) into the Davis Family Library has provoked some controversy from members of the College community.
The plan is to change the Music Library space into classrooms for the History of Art and Architecture (HARC) department, which will then free up more space in Johnson Memorial Building for the Studio Art and Architectural Studies programs. The board of trustees approved the move at its Oct. 23 meeting.
“We are trying to accommodate academic program space needs without constructing new buildings,” wrote Board of Trustees Chairman Rick Fritz ’68 in an e-mail. “Moving art history to be with the museum for our fifth largest major [HARC] is better pragmatically for art historians and will increase the number of students and related activities at the CFA.”
Vice President for Administration Tim Spears listed reasons why the College implemented these changes on his blog, “Across Campus.”
“When the Music Library was planned two decades ago, we did not have a cutting-edge, almost new library or one large enough to house music and dance materials,” Spears wrote. “We do now, and so taking advantage of this resource to meet other pressing curricular needs — without constructing new facilities — is the smart thing to do.”
However, some student and faculty unease surrounds the Music Library move. Students in the Music Department express discontent with the loss of their study and workspace in the CFA.
“I find the Music Library to be an incredibly useful and important resource in my everyday life as a musician and scholar,” said Noah Silverstein ’11, a double music and neuroscience major. “I, and others I have discussed the topic with, find the ability to have immediate access to the materials necessary for our performance and academic work to be of utmost value.”
The music department held a meeting on Nov. 11 in the Music Library to discuss the effects that this move will have on the department. Christian A. Johnson Professor of Music Peter Hamlin attended the meeting.
“The way it works is actually really cool,” Hamlin said. “You walk in [the Music Library] and you’re a professor, and you see five students with a score open and they’re like ‘Oh look at this!’ and then they go and listen to the recording. You see that kind of stuff and it’s really exciting, so that’s the first initial reaction: ‘Oh shoot we’re not going to have that really cool thing.’ And then the second reaction is: ‘Well, how can we have that really cool thing with these changes?’”
The hope for the meeting was to give students an opportunity to voice their concerns for the move and to try and come up with a list of ways to retain the benefits of the Music Library despite not having the same space. Attendees described the meeting as a great success, and students and professors seemed hopeful that they would be able to make this move work, if the administrators are flexible to their needs.
Silverstein described the sense of reassurance the meeting produced.
“It was really nice to be able to discuss it,” said Silverstein. “That was part of why I was concerned before, was that there hadn’t been a discussion beforehand. But now we know that even though the trustees have okayed it, that doesn’t mean they’ve worked out all the details yet. So it’s just the realization that we are still discussing things and it’s a work in progress.”
The students and professors also discussed the benefits of moving the Music Library to Davis. They agreed that having the music materials more centrally located will hopefully cause more students who aren’t necessarily music majors to take them out. Also, the fact that the HARC department will now be in the CFA might lead to more traffic in the building.
“There’s always something that could be better, but there’s no reason that this move can’t benefit everyone who’s involved,” said music major Pete Fitton ’13.
But regardless of how flexible the music department and administration are willing to be, the loss of the Music Library has certainly caused discomposure for some members of the College community. Library and Information Services Director Terry Simpkins is a musician and worked in the Music Library for 10 years.
“To me this feels a little bit like a business decision, and I would like to see, just once in my life, the arts come out on top and not have to be justified through commerce or some other criteria,” said Simpkins. “For someone to say, ‘Yes, there is value. Not just a little value, not just value in that it helps you do this other thing better, but there is value in it of itself, in you learning to understand music, or in you playing an instrument, or in you understanding what’s happening when you hear music. And it makes you a better person, and if it makes you a better person, it makes society a better society.’ And that’s what I feel the worst about.”
But, like the rest of the Music Department, Simpkins recognizes the administration’s choice to move the Music Library as logical.
“For the size of the music department and the number of students we have, I think I can understand the argument, or the position, that having a Music Library is something that we can’t sustain,” explained Simpkins. “I don’t have to like it or agree with it, but I can understand it.”
Music department copes with library move
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