Clinton, Feinberg Libraries Join Forces with Unprecedented Book Donation

Clinton Community College wasn’t the only thing delivered from the Bluff to SUNY Plattsburgh’s neighborhood this fall.

With the community college’s move from Bluff Point to its new home in the former Redcay Hall — now the George Moore Building — came a donation of more than 1,4000 books to SUNY Plattsburgh’s Feinberg Library, which, according its director, Dr. Joshua Beatty, will serve as the physical library for Clinton’s students, incorporating “the current print collections of Clinton’s Douglas Library,” he said.

During the summer, Clinton and Feinberg faculty and staff gathered at the college to sort and box volumes of recent and relevant books from Douglas that were to be added to Feinberg’s stacks, Beatty said.

“The acquisition is Feinberg’s largest and most significant in memory,” he said. “This acquisition will enable Feinberg Library to undertake an overdue review of its print resources. The library will remove the most outdated, unused, and damaged materials, which will make the collection more relevant and browsable.”

Weeded Older Materials

To allay fears, Beatty said that Feinberg staff is “only weeding materials that are more than 45 years old, have not been used in 20 years, are not considered essential and are still held by another SUNY library.”

Once the boxing “party” at Clinton had finished its work in the spring, the books were slated for delivery. Sept. 16, almost 1,000 banker-box-size boxes were delivered on campus from the Bluff plus seven file cabinets of archival materials, Beatty said.

Then the unpacking began. As of mid-October, Beatty said the process of unpacking and shelving has bone better than he imagined it would with about three-quarters of the boxes unpacked. Clinton’s books “were in such good condition, we’re learning about what’s worked for Clinton, and that’s helped us in our policy for keeping books.”

Sarah Jennette, head of library services at Clinton, said Beatty emailed her “about a day or two after the announcement (of Clinton’s move) in January,” she said.

“I told Sarah that libraries always work closely together. The natural thing to do was to reach out, get together and see how we can help,” Beatty said. The two librarians got together on a weekend, sharing visions of what a combined library could be. It resulted in two days in June with 20 people packing boxes.

‘Big Ask’

“We had Feinberg folks, Clinton folks, Clinton staff, board members all there working. It was a big ask,” Jennette said. “But it worked and a good example of what we were trying to do.”

“It was good for our staff to work with Clinton’s staff,” Beatty said. “It brought everyone in our library on board; it was a real team.”

Jennette said the project over the last year “worked so smoothly because that's just the beauty of libraries and librarians. As academic libraries, we want to build collections, services, and spaces that students can walk into with ease and comfort.”

“We're a profession dedicated to organization and accessibility but also service. Working with Feinberg staff and faculty has been such a stellar example of that and the power of what can happen when you get a bunch of stellar librarians in a room together to work through a project or problem.

‘Shared Campus Environment’

“I will also add that I have often described our work between the two libraries as an illustrative example of our entire shared campus environment now,” she said. “In our work, we discovered that not many other libraries have had to go through something like this — just like how a lot of other colleges have not had to go through something like this. Instead of stressing about the unknowns, I think we focus on what’s exciting and full of potential with our new situation. That makes all the difference.”

Feinberg Systems and Acquisitions Specialist Parker O’Mara said there was no way of knowing how long it would take to shelve 14,000  books.

“The process includes inputting the title, checking in the system, creating labels and then getting them on shelves in the correct place,” he said. “We also have to pin down times when student workers are able to do the shelving.”

To make matters more complicated, 14,000 books in boxes take up a lot of room, on different floors.

“I’ve done a few library moves in my time. This is the first time I’ve had to think about different floors,” Jenette said.

Elimination of Library Charge

Beatty said in the ensuing months after the initial meeting, Feinberg and its Clinton counterparts “spent a lot of time talking library policies,” he said. “Clinton patrons will have to change the way they’ve always done things. They always had community cards where people paid $25 a year. We decided to eliminate that charge.

“(Community members) will need to get their library card, but now there’s no cost to do so,” Beatty said. “The can do that on the library website. The public is allowed to come in and borrow their books from us. We’re committed to ensuring that all faculty, staff, and students have access to the resources they need to be successful.”

Jennette said that although everyone benefits from the Clinton’s donation of books, speaking for the students, she said, “I’ve been excited for them since I heard the news of our relocation. From Clinton’s perspective, I can now introduce our students to a library with far more space, more hours, and a bigger collection than we were ever going to be able to provide on the Bluff.

‘Significant Improvements’

“We will miss our gorgeous Douglas Library space that served us so well for years, but this relocation provides some remarkably significant improvements in terms of access for us. While Feinberg was open to our students before, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the connection is far more significant and impactful now,” Jennette said.

“Plus, if we want Clinton students to continue their academic journey at SUNY Plattsburgh, then our shared library environment serves a constant between the two places. I’ve already had former Clinton students who are now at SUNY Plattsburgh come to see me at Feinberg — and we only just got here. The future of that dynamic excites me a lot.”

For more information on the Feinberg and Clinton library collective, contact Beatty at 518-564-5200, email jbeat003@plattsburgh.edu, Jennette at 518-562-4247, email sarah.jenette@clinton.edu or visit https://library.plattsburgh.edu/home.

Story, Photos by SUNY Plattsburgh Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs; Clinton Photos Provided