It was recently reported that in order to deal with a major structural budget deficit, the seemingly desperate leaders of Vermont’s public colleges have made the radical decision of removing physical copies of books from the colleges’ libraries.

While the administrators seemed to feel that eliminating library books was a reasonable and effective way to save money, many students and professors decried this intellectually damaging decision. The loss of physical books would be detrimental to the education of those who need to read in print, such as the disabled and people who are unable to access books online. Besides, many people find it easier to read a printed rather than a digital book.

Nor is Vermont alone. Similar problems are plaguing state universities in Maine, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The problem is clearly destined to get worse.

The importance of books available to students on the spot – the function of a campus library – is essential. It was widely thought that Amazon, which started as an online source of books delivered typically within two or three days, would put libraries out of business. Yet local bookstores, such as the Brookline Booksmith and the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, have been flourishing. Indeed, the Harvard Book Store has been doing such robust business in selling real books that it has announced that it will soon open a second store in the Prudential Center of Boston.

What is ignored is, arguably, a far better solution: instead of removing libraries, colleges should reduce the number of administrators they hire. According to several organizations, such as The Heritage Foundation, the Goldwater Institute, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), many major universities have far more administrators than faculty members. At Harvard, for example, the ratio of administrators to faculty is 3 to 1.

Many professors, such as Richard Vedder (Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University) and Paul Bachman (professor of business management at University of the District of Columbia), recall a time when the ratio of administrators to faculty members was reversed and the power of education lay in the hands of faculty members, not bureaucracy as it is today. Now, the exorbitant number of administrators has impeded and burdened higher education.

Not only has the increased bureaucracy in colleges placed campus libraries in jeopardy, but it has also contributed to the relatively low pay of college professors and the high cost of college tuition. Funding the outrageous number of college administrators means that the funding for other departments, such as teaching faculty, is decreased while tuition costs are increased in order to support administrators. It is a vicious cycle, one that has also led to a low rate of enrollment in college due to high costs.

The bottom line is that our colleges and universities are overlooking a simple solution to a cost squeeze that threatens the heart and soul – and quite literally the brain – of these campuses. But one is pessimistic of the chances of attaining a solution. It is unrealistic to think that college administrators will either resign or fire one another for the good of the institutions for which they work. The task would have to be accomplished by board of trustees – assuming that they know what’s happening at the institutions that they have pledged to serve.

Harvey Silverglate is a criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer with offices in Cambridge and Boston