United against a proposal that would see Capen library space forfeited for a student services center-a move one professor described as "the penchant of the administration to give away library space like it grows on trees"- the Faculty Senate Executive Committee passed a resolution at last week's meeting opposing the use of Capen library space for any other purpose than its current one.

The resolution, initiated by William Baumer, professor of philosophy, resulted from a discussion on the dearth of library space currently available to house a massive overflow of print materials and the possibility of purchasing an off-campus storage site. Curious as to what would become of space freed up by the shift of books and journals from the libraries into storage, senators quickly found their way onto the issue of the administration's tentative plans to use the ground and first floors of the Oscar A. Silverman Undergraduate Library to house a student services center.

Stephen Roberts, associate director of libraries who was on hand to discuss the university's interest in acquiring an off-campus storage facility, said any plans to use library space as a front-end service desk for students are "all very tentative," while also acknowledging the divisiveness of the issue.

"There are those of us who find that (plan) attractive, there are those of us who find that repugnant," said Roberts, who noted he was attempting to be "fair" in looking at the library space as valuable to many parties.

"We do occupy incredibly valuable real estate at the center of the spine," he said. "We have significant 'spinality'...and I think that there is the notion right now that perhaps we can move some of the library stuff out...and we can put other valuable things in that space."

If the plan were implemented, he added, most of the collection housed in UGL would be relocated-largely to Lockwood and the Science and Engineering libraries.

Discussion at the meeting made it clear that it is not the student services center that faculty members oppose, but rather, the creep into library space-which one faculty member pointed out already serves undergraduates purposefully.

"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that something like a student services area is desperately needed," said Marilyn Kramer, head of the cataloging department for university libraries. "But not in my backyard, when my backyard is also serving the undergraduate students in a very meaningful and a very direct way."

Returning to talk of "spinality," James Bono, associate professor of history, took issue with the books-and how they figure into the academic lives of students.

"I don't want to see this campus become a book-free zone, one that's safe for undergraduates to inhabit," he said. "If anything ought to be at the center of the academic spine, it ought to be the library."

Roberts shared a number of possibilities for the freed space-which he said will continue to surface also as the result of increasing electronic volumes-such as study space, expanded cybrary facilities, large-scale hands-on computerized instruction, on-line test facilities and even classroom space.

Kramer pointed out that despite an increasing emphasis on the digital form, printed material still is arriving at UB in full force, and free space in the short-term does not guarantee it won't be needed at a later date.

"If we clear material into a storage area, that space that we freed up is not free, it's encumbered. It's just going to take a few years to get there," she said.

Roberts said UB is looking at a number of potential off-campus storage sites, including the former Service Merchandise store on Maple Road, the now-vacant Weinheimer's on Niagara Falls Boulevard, and the site for which Roberts said he is most enthusiastic-the vacant Wegmans building on Alberta Drive. Outfitted with cooling and dehumidifying systems, and impeded by a zoning limitation that makes it disadvantageous to business, Roberts expressed his confidence that the university could purchase the building at a fair cost.

The proposed site not only would house UB materials, but would serve as a clearinghouse for all Western New York SUNY institutions. Coupled with that, the upgrade currently in progress to a statewide library information system will afford widespread SUNY access, he said.