What the outcry over discarded Yale-NUS books reveals – and why it matters

Straits Times

23-05-2025

Some 500 books were recycled but the backlash arrived just in time to save another 8,500 books from being discarded. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
What the outcry over discarded Yale-NUS books reveals – and why it matters The backlash wasn't just a sentimental response. It was about valuing print and the stewardship of resources.
SINGAPORE - If not for the groundswell of response from alumni, 9,000 Yale-NUS library books would have been quietly pulped and never seen again.
On May 20, these books were packed into white plastic bags and loaded onto a recycling truck bound for a facility in Jurong, just a week after the college's final graduation ceremony. This act quickly ignited a wave of criticism, petitions, and calls for transparency.
Some 500 books were recycled, but the backlash arrived just in time to save another 8,500 books from being discarded. Beyond the rescue effort, this incident also brought out something deeper – that many Singaporeans still care about the printed word, and with it, the way knowledge is valued and resources cared for.
Even in this age of screens and endless scrolling, print books matter. The turning and rustling of dog-eared pages, the weight of a book in hand – these are common experiences across all ages, from a child learning to read his first storybook to an adult finding solace and community in book clubs.
Earlier in May, eight local independent booksellers came together to start a one-stop online bookstore, Bookshop.sg, offering more than 40,000 titles. Amid bookshop closures and a decline in reading habits, home-grown efforts like these are laudable.
Hence the callous treatment of books by a university library is all the more jarring, as is what the act of tossing them out represents: the squandering of resources, instead of seeking to find new homes and owners for the books.
The thought of books being left on the sidewalk to be thrown away, and possibly shredded to pieces during the recycling process, struck a nerve in me.
Yale-NUS alumni said these books had once been part of their lives – titles they read for leisure, borrowed for their theses, or saw frequently on the shelves.
Fiction, non-fiction and academic texts alike were taken away without warning, to the graduates' dismay. Those who tried to salvage some books at the scene were not allowed to do so, ostensibly on account of security reasons that have since been dismissed.
For Yale-NUS alumni, fresh from farewell gatherings and in the midst of saying their final goodbyes to the college, it was especially heartbreaking, as the books that had once lined the library shelves had become vessels of memory for them.
The college, which is slated to close in 2025, had been preparing for renovations.The 500 books that could not be recovered were a fraction of the total number of 45,000 books in the Yale-NUS library collection, the university said.
It has clarified that 36,000 of these books found new homes across their other libraries on campus. And the remaining 8,500 excess books will be given away at two upcoming book fairs in May and June.
But the initial intention to let those books go is still regrettable.
'These books could have benefited those who cannot afford to buy them, members of the public who value shared resources and curious minds who would have deeply appreciated them,' one Yale-NUS alumnus said.
'Why weren't the books offered to students first? Couldn't they have been donated to second-hand bookshops?' These were some of the questions that emerged online, as many wondered how such a large-scale disposal had gone ahead without an effort to seek creative alternatives.
NUS later apologised, citing an 'operational lapse' in not reaching out more extensively to faculty or accommodating student requests for the books. The university said it was unaware of students' interest in the titles – a claim that many find puzzling.
The disposal may not have stemmed from malice, but it showed some gaps in its stewardship of resources and lack of consultation with its own faculty and students, who were taken by surprise by the incident.
And especially for an institution charged with preserving knowledge, that kind of disregard matters.
What happens next matters too
In the wake of the backlash, NUS apologised, halted its original plan to dispose of the books, and said that it would introduce new measures to prevent a repeat of this episode.
Under updated processes, it will reach out to more faculty and other academic libraries, as well as hold book adoption fairs for students, alumni, and the public. These steps aim to prolong the shelf life of precious books, rather than them being discarded prematurely, said the university librarian, Associate Professor Natalie Pang.
The National Library Board, in response to queries from The Straits Times, said that it regularly reviews its collections to keep them relevant and in good condition for readers.
Only books that have suffered significant damage or are missing pages are typically removed and sent for recycling, it said. Books that are older or replaced by newer editions, but still in reasonable condition, are redistributed to patrons and community partners.
For instance, NLB organises an annual Big Book Giveaway to share preloved books. Its 10th edition will be held later in 2025, and about 60,000 books are expected to be given away then.
NLB also donates thousands of books to local community reading partners and international institutions.
Recycling, after all, is not inherently wrong. It is an important part of any sustainable practice, especially when one needs to make space for the new.
But it should be the last resort, and not a quick way to clear shelves during a transitional period.
Granted, finding new homes for books – especially those that may seem redundant or unwanted – will require more effort and is not the most convenient.
But sustainability is about giving objects a second life and trying to ensure they are reused meaningfully and passed onto those who will value them. And as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
Let's be clear on one point. Had NUS been completely transparent and earnest in its efforts to find a new home for the books – reaching out widely to students, faculty, alumni, and the public – and still found no takers, recycling would have been a reasonable, even responsible, final step.
The issue wasn't the act of recycling itself, but the absence of visible effort before resorting to it.
It should not have taken the loss of 500 books to prompt reflection and a review of administrative processes, but the reaction that followed was heartening.
The concern, from alumni and the wider public, book lovers and beyond, shows care not just about books, but about the enduring value of print, about avoiding waste, and the dignity of reuse.
And woven into that response was a quiet but clear insistence: We can do better .
Gabrielle Chan is a journalist at The Straits Times, and covers everything related to education in Singapore.
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