"It will be different because of the location, but their jobs and the mission of what they will do remains exactly the same," said Jeffrey L. Horrell, the associate librarian for collections.
Both library employees and library officials said the petitions are unlikely to move the book sales or the division back to Widener.
"Widener administrators have refused to negotiate the change in good faith," O'Brien said. "They've said this move is non-negotiable."
"We're always interested in what the staff thinks, but at some point, the administration has to make decisions," Brainerd said.
And travelling to Hilles is not as much of a hardship as people think, Brainard said.
"We're not banishing them to the hinterlands," she said. "They're going to a fabulous facility and they'll actually have more space than they did here at Widener."