[The following article appeared in the August 20 issue of the Block Island Times.]
By Gloria S. Redlich
Several dozen people gathered Tuesday afternoon, August 14, at the Island Free Library for an address by Harriette Hemmasi, university librarian of Brown University. The talk was sponsored by the Friends of the Island Free Library, the Brown Club of Rhode Island, and the Block Island Times.
Describing her as a “visionary in how libraries function,” Fraser Lang, publisher of the Block Island Times, introduced Hemmasi to the island audience. He cited her distinction and breadth of responsibility in being the librarian at a major research university.
Hemmasi began by drawing parallels between the large academic library that she works for and the island library. Comparing the John Carter Brown Library (JCBL), on the Brown campus and the Island Free Library, she said both began with their founders’ bequests and collections.
The Brown family had amassed a significant collection of books, including Americana, which became the foundation of the JCBL at Brown. On Block Island, the late Lester Dodge left the bulk of his estate to the town of New Shoreham for the purpose of rebuilding the library.
Hemmasi found it interesting that each institution retained artifacts from the homes of their founders, as well as documents and materials related to the founding families.

Libraries must grow
Examining the idea that there cannot be a great research university without a great library, Hemmasi said that a library must continue to grow. Describing the breadth of the Brown Library’s holdings, she said it came to 3.5 million volumes, with a total number of items exceeding 6 million.
Hemmasi explained that the Brown library operates on an annual budget of $20 million, of which $8 million are spent on periodicals. “More than half of those materials are issued electronically,” she said. “Most of the science journals are electronic, and more than $4 million are spent on electronic materials.”
Clearly the growth of the electronic library has been determined by the growing needs of students and faculty for access to electronic materials. The print library continues to grow, with the Brown library adding 50,000 titles a year.
‘Let’s talk about Google’
Reading from an article that discusses the growing dependence on electronic materials, Hemmasi noted that the author recommended “complete migration from print to electronics,” as well as “the retirement of the printed collections.” These were clearly views with which she disagreed.
While acknowledging that we should continue to expand electronic resources, she said, “At the same time we should have one foot in the analog mode. Part of a library’s role is to continue to preserve the print collections.”
Addressing her audience directly, Hemmasi said, “Let’s talk about Google going around to research libraries all over the country, turning their holdings into digital files. Is it good or bad?”
One listener responded, “It’s not reversible.”
Another suggested, “With the exception of possible abuse of copyright, isn’t dissemination of information a good thing?”
Both were points with which Hemmasi agreed, but she is concerned about what will happen to libraries’ goals of making all digitized materials free. She worries that Google will eventually raise the price tag.
At this time, while a number of university libraries have been digitizing their own materials, Hemmasi indicated that many major universities are cooperating with Google as a less costly alternative. “All of us would love to see our materials used,” she stressed. “we buy them for that reason.”
Several audience members thought that students who increasingly do their research on the Internet are missing a great deal, perhaps amassing facts without understanding the overall context. One gentleman said, “Whenever I go into the stacks for one volume, I’m able to find three or four others on the same shelf that I am able to use and grow excited about.”
Hemmassi suggested that what we may not yet fully appreciate that the “web-like nature of the Internet is to do exactly that.”
Much of the remaining discussion focused on difficulties in determining the authenticity and reliability of electronic sources, some problems surrounding tenure at academic institutions and the effective and aesthetic use of space in public and academic libraries.
Regarding the latter, Hemmassi noted that she was impressed with how well physical space was used in the island library. “When I went into the Reading Room,” she said, “I found people sitting before the fireplace reading in the sunlight.”
Upstairs she found younger people working on their computers and with books. She also remarked on the children’s rooms, where she found children reading or on computers. “Every place I looked was comfortable and well-lighted, and obviously well-used.”
At the heart of Hemmasi’s philosophy is the view that libraries should offer “open collections, open access — opening libraries and opening our minds.”
http://www.blockislandtimes.com/articles/2007/08/20/news/news10.txt