Harvard’s Austerity Measures Put Library Renovations on Hold

Harvard has paused plans to renovate four University libraries ahead of its 400th anniversary in 2036 as part of a temporary halt to capital projects amid an ongoing fight with the White House over federal funding.

Renovation plans for Widener, Lamont, Pusey, and Houghton libraries were announced in April 2024, but construction had not begun on the first project before Harvard’s funding battle with Washington caused the project to come to a halt.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences paused spending projects deemed “non-essential” in April after the Trump administration paused $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard.

Harvard Library Spokesperson Tenzin Dickie wrote in a statement that as a result of the capital projects pause, no additional steps have been taken toward construction after library administrators completed a feasibility study for the project in 2023.

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 warned over the summer that a combination of federal challenges to the University’s finances, including a drastic increase to the endowment tax and research funding cuts, could cost up to $1 billion each year. While researchers were notified on Wednesday that some funding would be reinstated, top officials are negotiating a legal settlement with the administration said to include a $500 million payment from Harvard.

According to the 2024 project announcement by Vice President for the Harvard Library Martha J. Whitehead, the plans include a new “discovery center” at Widener, updating Lamont’s infrastructure and furnishings, and making Pusey and Houghton more accessible.

The pause on capital spending also impacts the Harvard-Yenching Library — the largest American academic library for East Asian studies housed in a building on Divinity Avenue built in 1930, according to the Harvard Property Information Resource Center — which has struggled for years with aging facilities.

Staff at the library had hoped to launch a capital campaign for the library’s renovation, but Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute James Robson said any possible renovation campaign for Harvard-Yenching is also indefinitely delayed.

“If I walked into the President’s office now and started discussing this large project, which would be somewhere in the 200 to 250 million range — it’s a big project — I would probably be given a polite exit to the door,” Robson said, adding that the institute would be prepared to make a sizable financial contribution.

In a 2024 memo detailing the building’s renovation needs, Harvard-Yenching Library Manager Yang Jidong wrote that the space lacks functional air conditioning to prevent mold growth on books, in addition to missing office space or an elevator.

“The aging building at 2 Divinity Avenue poses many challenges to the operation and future of this world-renowned library and the largest ethnic and non-Western language collection on the Harvard campus,” Yang wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The Crimson.

Robson, also a Harvard professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, said that while the institute contributes $2 million each year to expand the collection, Harvard has a responsibility to maintain the facilities.

“I think anybody now would agree that that’s just not the case,” he said, describing the library as “dilapidated.”

“There’s also no way for it to showcase the real gems of the collection,” Robson said of the library.

“It’s just no study spaces. It’s just not a welcoming library, or well known to the undergraduates, either,” he added.

In a statement, Dickie highlighted the library’s ongoing outreach programs — including semesterly research orientation sessions for the library’s collections.

“Like many historic facilities, the 2 Divinity Avenue building poses challenges for both Harvard Library and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,” Dickie wrote. “In partnership with FAS, Harvard Library continues to address these challenges and is committed to stewarding the Harvard-Yenching Library collection, maintaining proper environmental conditions, and planning for longer-term improvements for students, faculty, researchers, and staff.”

—Staff writer Sophie Gao can be reached at sophie.gao@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sophiegao22.

—Staff writer Alexandra M. Kluzak can be reached at alexandra.kluzak@thecrimson.com.