Academic Libraries: “Social” or “Communal?” The Nature and Future of Academic Libraries
Section snippets
Impetus for Change in Academic Libraries
The demand for change in academic libraries has been driven by three seemingly interrelated factors: the increasing use of electronic resources outside the library, the declining circulation of print materials, and falling gate counts. Scott Carlson, in his controversial 2001 article, “The Deserted Library,” notes that gate counts have been falling at many academic libraries: 20 percent at the University of Idaho-Moscow since 1997 and 32 percent at Augusta State University since 1993.1 As
Models of Change in Academic Libraries
What are the components of the “social” academic library? Though specific recommendations vary, there are two basic ideas: integrating technological and information resources in what is often described as an “info commons” and bringing nontraditional functions like classrooms, event programming, and cafés into the library. Exploring the details of these models, neither of which is mutually exclusive, is beyond the scope of this analysis. Instead, these approaches will be examined in terms of
Reconciling the New Academic Library With the Old
There is nothing inherently wrong with bringing new functions and services, even social functions and services, into the academic library. But it is vital that the new be reconciled with the old; that new functions serve the needs of academic library users and that new services do not detract from existing, and valued ones. This can be challenging, as Christina Peterson notes: “This need for silent place is most at odds with other library uses and as such is most in need of protection.”38
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Ethelene Whitmire, Associate Professor at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Lee Konrad, Director of Memorial Library at UW-Madison, for their encouragement and suggestions.
Notes and References (41)
The Deserted Library
Chronicle of Higher Education
(2001, Nov. 16)Librarianship Enters the Twilight
Library Journal
(2001, Jan.)- See Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckman, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge...
The Library as Learning Environment: Space Planning in an Academic Library
Colorado Libraries
(2006, Winter)Common Ground: Libraries and Learning
Library Issues
(2004, Sept.)Righting the Balance
- Ibid., p....
From the Ashes of Alexandria: What's Happening in the College Library?
- Ibid., p....
- Fister, “Common Ground: Libraries and Learning,” p....
The Library as Place: Changing Perspectives
Library Administration and Management
The Library as Place: Changes in Learning Patterns, Collections, Technology, and Use
Esprit de Place: Maintaining and Designing Library Buildings to Provide Transcendent Spaces
American Libraries
What Students Want: Generation Y and the Changing Function of the Academic Library
Portal: Libraries and the Academy
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