[Web4lib] Campus without library - summing up
Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D.
patamia at gmail.com
Wed Nov 19 22:52:57 EST 2008
Hi Alan,
I wonder if there is more than fortuitous space availability
involved in having libraries become the forum for learning and even
research in a social setting. In academic settings, the library is a
symbol for many things. It symbolizes accumulated knowldege. It
symbolizes the sanctity of knowledge almost as a kind of tabernacle.
It symbolizes the ethos of making knowledge freely available without
regard to the ability to pay (a stretch in many cases since tuition
contributes to the library). The work areas and places in which
collaboration is encouraged symbolizes the notion that society needs
open collaboration as much as it needs commercialization. (Somebody
stop me before I get too idealistic here!)
But seriously, symbols are powerful. "Going to the library" is a
statement that says, sometimes reluctantly, that you too are a member
of the community of scholars.
If this is a valid insight, then perhaps the lesson to us all is
that even a virtual library will be enhanced by creating some of the
same capabilities -- especially if they can be tied to the library's
content.
A challenge renewed: Imagine a "Second Life" environment
(hopefully even better!) and apply this insight to creating a library
with robust serious content AND a visual/aural space that makes it
more inviting. Can you imagine how to adapt the normal notions of
study rooms, roaming reference librarians, etc.? Can you imagine ways
to exploit that virtual environment to produce inspiring experiences
and genuine collaborations? What can you do in that virtual
environment that you cannot do -- cost effectively -- in real life?
On 11/19/08, Alan Cockerill <alan.cockerill at jcu.edu.au> wrote:
> I'm firmly in Dave's camp.
>
> At a teaching institution the library is more than a book warehouse (or
> should be) the physical space has social, teaching, studying and
> recreational purposes.
>
> For our students it's a quiet place to study, somewhere to get face to face
> help (other service areas are closing their public access desks - often
> relying on ours to refer students to the right person), a place conducive to
> group work, an exhibition space. Their course tutorials are often held here
> as are their exams. They have access to facilities like video editing,
> printing and scanning that have to be housed somewhere on campus and it
> makes sense to put them in the space that's open the longest hours with
> staff willing and able to provide assistance.
>
> And laptops aren't really meant for laps - you need somewhere to rest it and
> plug it in.
>
> That said I don't think there's any reason why Steven's virtual library for
> geographically dispersed researchers can't work.
>
> We have post grad researchers all over the world who are among our heaviest
> users.
>
> Alan Cockerill
> Library Technologies Coordinator
> James Cook University, Cairns
>
> PO Box 6811
> CAIRNS QLD 4870
> Phone:+61 7 4042 1737
> Fax: +61 7 4042 1516
> Email: Alan.Cockerill at jcu.edu.au
> Skype: alan.cockerill.jcu
> http://www.library.jcu.edu.au/Staff/alan.shtml
>
> CRICOS Provider Code: 00117J (QLD)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
>
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Walker, David
> Sent: Thursday, 20 November 2008 4:46 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
> ________________________________________
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On
> Behalf Of Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D. [patamia at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 9:55 AM
> To: Even Flood
> Cc: Project Wombat; web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Campus without library - summing up
>
> Hi Even et al.
>
> I have a special interest in "virtual" libraries because we are
> planning one and recruiting for it. However, we are not a typical
> campus. The anticipated research library supports a global cadre of
> researchers most of whom could not make the trip to a specific campus
> location if they wanted to!
>
> Nevertheless, its not my purpose to champion the idea of a virtual
> library, but to learn how to make the one we need work in the
> situation it faces. Consequently, I want to understand well the
> librarian viewpoint on this issue and thus flagged this thread as
> relevant to that goal.
>
> Bear in mind that we will have real live librarians and technical
> support people organized into a service structure so that several
> kinds of direct assistance from trained, skilled, and people smart
> staff is always available. We are not trying to save money by
> eliminating staff -- the library we are planning MUST nevertheless be
> virtual because of where the patrons are physically (all over) and
> their need for 24hr electronic access.
>
> Question: Given the negative intimations in some of this thread,
> would anyone following it care to comment specifically on why they
> think some of these projects ended up relenting and building real
> physical libraries? More importantly, even if it amounts to stating
> the aobvious, would anyone following be willing to identify the most
> important things that the physical facility offers in different
> situations that are the most difficult or problematic to virtualize?
> Other comments more than welcome.
>
> Thanks!
>
> On 11/19/08, Even Flood <even.flood at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Folks,
> >
> > Thanks for the help and response! Here is a summing up of what I have
> learned
> >
> > 1) The original discussion goes back to 1995 and the announcement that
> > the California State University Monterey Bay would be built without a
> > physical library. The plans were commented in Newsweek and lambasted
> > by Cliff Stoll, and the CSUMB learned the error of their ways. The
> > library was built and a new library buidling is to open on December
> > 1st this year. Congratulations to them! See http://library.csumb.edu/.
> >
> > Two other project have been mentioned: University of Minnesota
> > Rochester, http://www.r.umn.edu/01_about.htm, looks like a small
> > university and with no physical library. The Kingsport Center for
> > Higher Education, http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9005970, is
> > under constructiion and will not have a library. Opens in 2009. Let us
> > see how long they last.
> >
> > Again thanks! If I have missed anything, please say so.
> >
> > Even
> >
> > --
> > Even Hartmann Flood, Senior Academic Librarian
> > Ilevollen 3e
> > N 7018 Trondheim, Norway.
> > Phone: +47 73 52 53 53/ +47 95 11 58 14
> > even.flood at gmail.com
> > http://home.broadpark.no/~evflood/
> > "Come, and take choice of all my library, and so beguile thy sorrow."
> > (Shakespeare)
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web4lib mailing list
> > Web4lib at webjunction.org
> > http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D., J.D.
> Personal Cell: (352) 219-6592
>
>
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--
Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D., J.D.
Personal Cell: (352) 219-6592
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