But at the other extreme, the alarming news is that the rector (or president) of the Ionian University, Andreas Floros, has decided to introduce severe restrictions on the university library’s physical space and access to its books. Now, on graduation they may be leaving a university which does not even have a library they would recognise. The Ionian University ranks at 22 in the list of 25 Greek universities, and one can understand its anxiety to raise its profile and its academic rating. But to drastically curtail the university library and to replace it with “digital” services which make the act of reading books redundant does not seem the solution. I had planned to donate my own library to the Ionian University, including many rare volumes on Greek literature not at present on its shelves.

Source: The Irish Times January 06, 2026 14:52 UTC