The Future of Library Space by Samantha Schmehl Hines Kathryn Moore Crowe

Author:Samantha Schmehl Hines, Kathryn Moore Crowe
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786352705
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Published: 2016-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

This case study focuses on three of the principles (enumerated below) that have had the most prominent impact on reimagining Rolvaag Library spaces:

We provide flexible library spaces that promote academic study, reflection, creativity, and social interactions.

To address our users’ need for flexible and versatile spaces, we operate on the premise that library services need to be arranged in ways that anticipate our users’ expectations, even if such arrangements do not follow traditional departmental or functional divisions. Services supporting academic work should be easily encountered and recognized, even by novice library users. This case study delineates how multiple services (Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, Research Services, Information Technology, Digital Scholarship, and the Writing Center) have been spatially reconfigured to achieve a physical proximity, providing a holistic and fluid suite of services for our users. We also address how the reconfiguration of spaces impacts staffing, management, and training needs at a small liberal arts college. This case study, which exemplifies creating a dynamic, service-centered space on a limited budget, will hopefully provide a useful model for other small academic libraries that are preparing to reconfigure or renovate their spaces.

We lead in effective uses of digital resources and technologies for teaching and learning.

The integration of technology in teaching and learning has driven the redesign of library spaces throughout higher education. At St. Olaf, the new Digital Scholarship Center (DiSCO) located within our main library provides a superb case study of this evolution. When looking at the design and launch of the DiSCO, we addressed the factors that informed its conception and design. This included a discussion of the collaboration between library and IT staff who planned, manage, and program the center. The culmination of a four-year collaboration between research and instruction librarians and instructional technologists, the DiSCO illustrates a unique model for jointly envisioning a library space that recognizes the distinct and overlapping missions of each team in support of teaching and learning.

We protect and preserve our unique collections while making them accessible to our community and scholars worldwide.

We propose that in the future academic libraries will pay particular attention to special collections and physical spaces for their curation, display, and use. We have observed a growing interest among faculty to incorporate tangible – as opposed to digitized – rare materials into their courses. As the number of courses incorporating special collections expands, the need for adequate spaces for teaching and curation becomes more critical. This study describes the low-budget process undertaken to secure creative spaces to support the curricular use, promotion, and care of special collections. We also address a long-range plan for housing special collections, as well as integrating autonomous special collections on campus, both physically and operationally. We believe that the trend to grant special collections greater visibility and unique status is bound to grow among academic libraries, as such collections are often a cornerstone of unique institutional identity.

Finally, successful libraries in the future will offer nimble and flexible spaces that can quickly morph depending on patrons’ changing needs. This study indicates

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.