You can judge a book by its 'dust test' as university library cuts its staff and stock

In a fiery question-and-answer session yesterday, John Shipp, the librarian at Fisher Library at Sydney University, told staff and students of plans to reduce the main stack by almost half.

The cull is part of a redevelopment funded by the federal government.

The growth of e-journals and digital books meant some hard copies were no longer needed on shelves, which he said were built higher and closer together than safety and building standards permitted.

The award-winning library has 48 kilometres of shelf space and needed to relocate 19, Mr Shipp said. ''There's a bursting point that we've reached,'' he said.

Items not borrowed for five years would be targeted but nothing would be moved to storage or discarded without consultation with academics.

As much as 58 per cent of monographs had not been used in five years and talks were under way to find a storage site, he said.

Angry staff and students said the university had failed to consider alternatives, such as adding floors. It was a ''false equation'' to say books that were not borrowed were unused, one woman said. Many were read in the library and not taken out. Mr Shipp said that was true of only 2 per cent of unborrowed books. Pressed on how he could know, he replied: ''We do the dust test.''

The library had received nearly $27 million in federal funding to upgrade the lifts, airconditioning, electrical wiring, toilets and for refurbishment and was under pressure to use it, Mr Shipp said.

A senior history lecturer, Cindy McCreery, was sceptical about the process of selecting which books should go.

She asked: ''As university librarian, do you think this is a responsible way to proceed?''

Among the changes would be more desk space, an indoor coffee cart and 24-hour access during exams to a section of the library. A big compactus was planned for level one and the library would stay open during the construction, due to start in months.

An arts student, Patricia Lemaire, questioned the need for a coffee shop and said the university owed her a quiet place to study.

The president of the Student Representative Council, Donherra Walmsley, said students liked being surrounded by books but suffered from a dearth of study space on campus.

The university's move into ''21st century learning'' was positive, she said.