This story by Aaron Calvin was first published by the News & Citizen on May 8.
The shelves on the second floor of Vermont State University Johnson’s Willey library are looking empty these days as the campus makes room for its growing nursing program.
The materials that once sat on the shelves have been moved to the library’s first and third floors as the university works “to create a more accessible and versatile area for learning and collaboration,” signs posted on the shelves read. The reorganization will make room for labs and simulation space for the nursing program, according to university Provost Nolan Atkins.
“Expanding nursing through the creation of labs and simulation space will really allow us to expand our nursing capacity here at Johnson and within the Lamoille County area,” Atkins said. “It would be a huge and positive byproduct in terms of just creating more nurses and contributing to the health care workforce in this part of the state.”
The Johnson campus is building out a unique tiered nursing program, where students can work toward the most basic levels of nursing qualifications, beginning with practical nursing certifications and laddering through a registered nursing degree and eventually to some master’s degrees.
Now, five years out since a warning by former Vermont State Colleges Chancellor Jeb Spaulding proposed the closure of several campuses, including the one in Johnson, amid financial distress, the state has invested millions in turning the beleaguered university system around.
Part of the former state college system’s reorganization has included a reshuffling of its academic offerings. In 2023, the university announced consolidations and shifts in focus at its campuses, including the expansion of in-demand nursing programs at its Johnson and Williston campuses, while some fine arts programs at Johnson were either terminated or consolidated.
The university recently announced a 15% increase in new students, with the nursing program among those receiving the most interest, even as the program is being built.
The university has also been assessing the unused buildings on its campuses and attempting to work with local communities to find new uses for them. For example, McClelland Hall on the Johnson campus is in the process of being transformed into affordable senior housing through previously apportioned federal funding.
The second floor of the library was identified as the area best suited for this component of the nursing program.
“It’s the one space that really would work well to build out the lab and simulation space,” Atkins said. “It would work really well for the students and for the program and would work in terms of just making the infrastructural changes that we would make we would need to make within the budgetary constraints that we have.”
The university’s libraries were the subject of contentious public debate in winter 2023, when then-President Parwinder Grewal attempted to enact a cost-reduction plan that would have closed libraries at campuses across Vermont, including the one in Johnson.
That decision was rescinded and Grewal resigned following intense backlash from students and the public. According to Alejandra Nann, library director for the Vermont State Colleges System, the decision to give up the second floor of the Johnson library to the nursing program was out of her scope but would benefit the Johnson campus in general.
“It’s about enriching the campus with another program, and essentially everyone benefits,” Nann said. “In terms of the library space, it’s being reorganized to make room for it.”
The university libraries are still playing catch-up after the pandemic closures prevented them from enacting the regular weeding of their collections, the process through which materials that are out of date or see little use are removed from the collection. Catching up on weeding has allowed the Johnson campus to free up space on the library’s second floor, and Nann said the process was standard and evidence based.
According to Nann, these changes will ultimately benefit the library.
“Nurses are huge library advocates and library users, so if anything, it might bring more vibrancy to the library, which we’re really excited about,” she said.
A previous version misspelled Alejandra Nann’s name, mischaracterized Parwinder Grewal’s role and misidentified Nolan Atkins’ last name.
