New (largely virtual) library at new U of California campus (Merced)

[Sloan, Bernie]

Forgot to add...

It looks like someone might have learned some lessons from the Cal State
System's Monterrey Bay library experiment. 

The CSUMB library was intended to be almost entirely virtual. Now they
are in the process of planning for a new library building. The CSUMB
library website now notes: "The library acknowledges that an emphasis on
electronic resources is both desirable and appropriate for academic
collections in the early 21st century, since a critical mass of relevant
information is becoming available through this medium. In addition, this
emphasis permits a more focused expenditure of budgetary resources, as
the just-in-time collections model makes available the very specific
articulated needs of the user. At the same time, the CSUMB Library now
recognizes that its startup model must be modified to incorporate more
print material..."

The new University of California System's Merced campus puts the library
at the center of the campus. While the library relies heavily on virtual
resources (mainly from the California Digital Library), the physical
library building looks to be quite large, and they have an emphasis on
"library as physical space".

There's an artist's rendition of the library building at:

http://library.ucmerced.edu/about/index.html 

There's a bit about the "library as space" at:

http://library.ucmerced.edu/about/news/libnews/vol1-1/page2.html#space 

Bernie Sloan

-----Original Message-----
From: Sloan, Bernie 
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 2:56 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Shelve Under "E" for Electronic

Interesting article in the April 1 Chronicle of Higher Education about
the library at the University of California's new Merced campus. Looks
like they plan to rely heavily on resources from the California Digital
Library.

A couple of quotes:

"With its focus on remote collections and digital resources, Merced's
Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library will either be a new model for research
libraries or a brief experiment for a generation dazzled by the
Internet."

Duane Webster, executive director of ARL is quoted as saying "Rethinking
the character and nature of the research library in the electronic age
is a wonderfully exciting opportunity for a place like Merced because
they aren't carrying the baggage of legacy collections."

Here's the citation:

Carlson, Scott. Shelve Under "E" for Electronic. Chronicle of Higher
Education, 51(50), A-24. April 1, 2005. (Available online to subscribers
only).

Bernie Sloan
Senior Library Information Systems Consultant, ILCSO
University of Illinois Office for Planning and Budgeting
616 E. Green Street, Suite 213
Champaign, IL  61820

Phone: (217) 333-4895
Fax:   (217) 265-0454
E-mail: bernies at uillinois.edu