[Web4lib] Campus without library - summing up

[Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D.]

Hi Kerry,

   For actual teaching institutions --  particularly those with a
substantial undergraduate pool -- it makes sense that accreditation
standards will play a significant role.  In our case, the Institute
served by the library will not be concerned with this problem.  Our
users are researchers and engineers, not students.  Our analogous
problem, however, will be maintaining live customer support for our
widely dispersed patrons.  We might not be answerable to an
accreditation standard, but in both cases the goal is to provide
tangible "customer" services that affect the quality of result.

   Quick aside:  its an interesting turnabout, but consider for the
moment the problem of designing a modern library accessed via a
service such as Second Life (yes I know there are folks here involved
in such things -- and hopefully they will chime in).  There are no
physical books, but you have incredible low-cost freedom to design a
visual space (or, if you prefer, to design a physical space and
simulate immersion into it) for your library.  What do you do?  What
counts?   Will it help if all the in-world librarian avatars are
physically attractive?  Will people be inspired or benefit in some
tangible way from the way things appear to be arranged physically and
the views that they see?  Will the architecture foster creativity --
both in problem solving and library research?   How do you project
electronic journals in that setting other than downloading content --
or do you even bother to somehow project them?

   In my personal dream world I would like to see the Second-Life type
scenarios used to create more realistic personal interactions between
library specialists and researchers and have enriched content with the
ability to display 3-D content summarizing or enhancing textual
content.  Beyond that, I have trouble imagining what would really help
researchers get more out of the actual virtual library.  Maybe I am
just missing an important 'fun factor' in all this.

On 11/19/08, Kerry Spears <kerry.spears at casalomacollege.edu> wrote:
> No one has mentioned the role of the various educational accreditation agencies (e.g. WASC, ABHES, North Central) in library-related decisions.  These agencies - and their requirements - have a major role in many of the school-wide decisions.  There are also other agencies that have a role.  For example, in California (and nationally) the nursing boards review the print and electronic holdings of libraries as part of their (reaccredidation program reviews.
>  My guess is that there were a number of factors such as this that contributed to the final configuration of the library at these schools.
>
>  Kerry Spears
>  Library Director
>  Casa Loma College
>  Hawthorne Campus
>  310-220-3111
>
>  ________________________________
>
>  From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Walker, David
>  Sent: Wed 11/19/2008 10:45 AM
>  To: web4lib at webjunction.org
>  Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Campus without library - summing up
>
>
>
>
>  > why they think some of these projects ended up
>  > relenting and building real physical libraries?
>
>  I think newly built academic library buildings are really multi-purpose spaces.  They devote a large amount of square footage to computer labs, group study rooms, and related service points (writing center, math labs, tutoring), as they do traditional library services and book storage.
>
>  Universities still need those kinds of spaces for students.  Not everyone has a laptop, and even if they do, many students actually *prefer* the library to other places on campus, even other computer labs and study spaces.
>
>  And I don't really think most of these campuses "relented" and built physical libraries.  Most of the new California campuses, for example, had plans to build a library from the outset.
>
>  If you look at the timing of Monterey Bay, it was built in 1994-95, probably when the hype and promise of the "paperless society" was at its zenith.  That hype never really panned-out, even if some administrators there publically declared that it would.  So there's a still a need for people to read actual, physical books, and it's good, for convenience sake, to have some of those on-site.
>
>  --Dave
>
>  ==================
>  David Walker
>  Library Web Services Manager
>  California State University
>
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu <http://xerxes.calstate.edu/>
>
> _
-- 
Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D., J.D.
Personal Cell: (352) 219-6592