“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” — Cicero
If news broke that Duke would be shutting down Perkins Library, the entire campus would be filled with protesting students. After all, the library is the intellectual and social hub of campus, a place where profound ideas are shared and priceless memories are made. I couldn’t imagine Duke without its libraries. As unfathomable as this story may sound, this exact scenario is playing out with little fanfare at the Marine Lab.
On Friday, April 4, members of the Duke University Marine Lab (DUML) community received a message that the campus’ library, Pearse Memorial Library, would be closing, effective July 1, 2025. The decision comes as a university looks to cut costs in the face of declining federal funding for research. Funding cuts, in addition to the rise of digitization and a faulty HVAC system, were cited as the primary reasons for the library’s closure. The library has survived much worse — hurricanes, extreme flooding, political turmoil and the rapid urbanization of the marine environment around it. But after serving the Marine Lab community for 50 years, the library is set to be shuttered…