Without books, Elon falls short of Phi Beta Kappa

The University of Mississippi needed 100 years to gain Phi Beta Kappa accreditation. Most schools, conversely, average 15-16 years to receive a chapter. So, Mississippi was about 85 years off the average. Elon is somewhere in the 16- to 100-years away range, leaning more toward the latter.

Elon College for the Arts and Sciences submitted its second Phi Beta Kappa application in October, and by the end of the year, it will be known if Elon has been accepted as the 271st school to gain accreditation. Chances are, Phi Beta Kappa officials won’t be making a campus visit.

A lynch pin of all accredited schools is a strong library. And three years ago, Phi Beta Kappa rejected Elon’s initial application, in large part because of a weak library.

The university likes to endorse its library loan program and extensive online, database catalog. If you need a book Elon doesn’t have, you can get it (optimistically) within the work week from a cooperating library. Failing that, search LexisNexis or ProQuest.

The simple fact remains, though, that Phi Beta Kappa will never be attached to Elon without the tangible product. Books must be on the shelves here, not in Guilford College’s library. Sometimes it seems the library is stockpiling DVD’s at a faster rate than books, and that’s a sad prospect.

But what if the book a student needs isn’t available here or through interlibrary loan? Then, get in the car and drive to the University of North Carolina or N.C. State. It is ridiculous that an undergraduate student should have to drive 45 minutes to a competing school’s library just to find a book about the Coen brothers – two of the more established and important filmmakers of the past 20 years.

A simple solution to the problem -- until Elon puts books in the library – would be to give each Elon student who has to drive to Chapel Hill or N.C. State a small travel stipend that covers gas and mileage. It’s pretty safe to assume, though, that such an initiative will not be undertaken.

If Elon is serious about touting Phi Beta Kappa accreditation in the near future, then the administration must quit turning a blind eye toward the students and the library. Online journal articles and historical databases just aren’t enough. Students need to feel an actual book in their hands.

Put books on the shelves, or shelf the idea of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Elon.