By Michelle Osborne
Ryerson students are denied full access to the University of Toronto’s Robarts research library, according to current policy, which is not expected to change in the near future.
Carol Moore, U of T’s chief librarian, said undergraduate students from other universities are not permitted to borrow any books from the university or go into the stacks to do research at Robarts. However, books are available upon request to non-U of T students for in-library use only.
“There are strong feelings on campus that Robarts is overly utilized,” Moore said. “I think universities should have a good undergraduate library, and we are finding that too many people are competing for the material.”
Moore said students at U of T have been complaining that about one-third of the two-and-a-half million books at Robarts are not available to the more than 100,000 registered U of T borrowers.
Lance Murdoch, a third-year Ryerson photo arts student, learned about the restrictions the hard way. He and his girlfriend, Barb McComas, a third-year social work student, went to Robarts to look at a book that was only available there. They were told they couldn’t see the collection. When they asked for the staff to pull the book for them, their request was refused.
“They should have pulled the book for us,” Murdoch said. “I find it a little reprehensible. I don’t think they have a clue what’s going on in their own university.”
U of T is one of three universities not taking part in the Inter-University Borrowing Project (IUBP), a program set up by the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). The project allows students from all Ontario schools to obtain books from any university in the province, with the exception of U of T, the Ontario College of Art, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Daniel Phelan, head of Ryerson’s library access services, said U of T should cooperate with the IUBP because of the extensive collection at Robarts.
“It’s not an unusual situation,” Phelan said. “Being so centrally located, and having such a good collection, (Robarts) would be overrun with students. They think that smaller universities will not get the influx of students that they will. They don’t seem likely to change (their view) soon.”
Students at U of T permitted to use the stacks at Ryerson, but do not have borrowing privileges. Phelan said that this is the first step to reaching an agreement with U of T.
“This is a delicate political issue. We think we are being morally superior here. We’re letting them come and use our resources.”
McComas agrees. “I found it really frustrating because everyone always says ‘go to U of T students are allowed access to all other libraries.”
But according to Fred MacIntosh, a past president of the OCUL, the issue is in the hands of the individual universities.
“Nothing is really binding with us,” he said. “It’s individual policy for each library. Generally, this would be a U of T issue.”
Phelan said that Ryerson has an extensive collection of research materials for the Hospitality and Tourism and Fashion programs which are used by many students from other universities.
Until U of T decides to cooperate, students will have to do their research elsewhere, and that has Murdoch angry.
“Teachers have told me to do research at U of T but you can’t,” he said. “If you want to restrict it from the general public, I’m even a little wary of that, but if you want to restrict it from university students, now that’s ridiculous.”
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