SINGAPORE, May 21 — The National University of Singapore (NUS) has issued an apology following an “operational lapse” in handling hundreds of books from Yale-NUS College, which is scheduled to close this year.

Yesterday, photos and videos emerged showing books from the Yale-NUS College library packed into trash bags and loaded onto a recycling truck.

The images sparked an outcry among students and alumni who called for the preservation of the collection.

Associate Professor Natalie Pang, from the NUS University Library, told Channel News Asia (CNA) today that the disposal was part of standard library practice.

She explained that excess books are “routinely rehomed” in other NUS libraries or given to faculty members and sometimes students.

“Books which are not taken up are then sent for recycling, in line with common library practices,” she was quoted as saying.

Regarding the Yale-NUS books, Pang said the majority were relocated to other NUS libraries.

However, she acknowledged that only faculty members were offered the remaining excess books, not students.

“We understand later that many students were interested in having these books and we would have usually acceded to their requests,” she added.

“We did not do so on this occasion and we apologise for the operational lapse.”

Following strong student interest, NUS is now organising a giveaway event on campus to distribute the leftover books.

“Going forward, we are reviewing our process and will take proactive steps to distribute excess books to the NUS community and the wider public so that they can benefit as many people as possible,” Pang said.

NUS has not clarified what happened to the books shown being loaded onto the recycling truck.

An employee from Green Orange Enviro, the recycling company involved, told CNA that the books had been recycled.

The company said NUS contacted them around 3pm yesterday to halt the recycling, but it was already too late.

Yale-NUS College will close this year, with its final cohort graduating in May 2025.

The law faculty, currently housed at the Bukit Timah campus, will take over the Yale-NUS campus later this year.