Yavapai College’s Verde Valley Campus gave away the majority of its books and media from May 8 to 11 to make room for the county community college’s new Center for Learning and Innovation and a shift to digital materials.
A press release states that “the Center for Learning and Innovation will feature modern digital technology used at many higher education institutions across the country, which will enhance the student experience with more content at the tip of their fingers.”
Tyler Rumsey, the campus’s marketing director, dismissed the rumor that the library would be closing and dumping its books into a landfill.
“I’ve seen stuff on social media that we’re shutting the library down. The library is not closing. It is going under renovations to modernize it,” Rumsey said.
Outdated materials and magazines or newspapers not wanted by members of the community will be recycled and a small portion of the library’s collection will be retained for future use.
“We’re turning it into a new library that is more digitally focused for ease of access to support our students,” Rumsey said. “This was part of the college’s facilities master plan that has been out there for quite some time now and received a lot of community input. We’re not closing the library.”
The library opened its doors to the public to give away its collection from Monday, May 8, through Thursday, May 11. As of Wednesday, approximately half of the books had found a new home. By Thursday morning, almost all of the former library’s shelves were empty.
The Yavapai College library also offers a digital platform called OverDrive that allows library users access to ebooks and audiobooks, along with other electronic databases for research and other educational uses.
Yavapai College estimates that the building renovation will be completed by August 2024.
