Finding the Future: The Evolution of the Library
Robert Renaud, vice president for library and information services and chief information officer, seen outside Waidner-Spahr Library, has been helping Dickinson "choose its future" since 2001. Photo by Tony Moore.
A look back at a ‘landmark’ 1996 article gives perspective on today’s library
In preparing for its 75th anniversary, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) asked the readers of its journal, College & Research Libraries, to help choose seven “landmark” articles from the journal’s history.
Among the seven was “Choosing Our Futures,” co-authored by Robert Renaud, Dickinson’s vice president for library and information services and chief information officer. It’s not every day an author has something he’s written tagged as a landmark work, so Renaud’s reaction to the news seems about right.
“Needless to say, I was surprised!” he says. “The article caused quite a stir when it was first published, but to have it selected as one of seven landmark articles published over the last 75 years is a huge honor.”
All seven articles will be included in a special issue of College & Research Libraries to be published in March 2015 and discussed at the ACRL’s 2015 conference. Below, Renaud discusses what changes he and his co-authors saw coming in 1996, how libraries—both at Dickinson and generally—have evolved and the way forward.
Your 1996 paper came out hard about libraries needing to change in the face of myriad factors coming down the pike. If you had to pick the biggest change libraries have been through in the ensuing 18 years, what would it be?
Over the last 18 years, the explosion in digital collections and services, facilitated by the Internet, fundamentally reshaped the academic library. Instead of just a physical facility, the library also came to be seen as a rich range of services that could be accessed from any location at any time.
I still walk into libraries and marvel at how many books are on the shelves that likely will never be looked at again. You mention in the article that libraries face becoming “storehouses” if they don’t adapt to patrons' changing needs. Do you think this concern has been addressed adequately?
We feared that college libraries would become warehouses for books as online tools increased in importance. Happily, this did not happen. In fact, libraries became vibrant centers of campus life at most colleges. At Dickinson, we use our spaces to highlight the achievements of our outstanding faculty—through the prominent display of faculty publications at the entrance to the library and our FaculTeas, events that highlight the work of individual faculty members and the passion that they bring to their research.
The library also hosts lectures, musical performances, exhibits, seminars and social events, and we have reconfigured space to facilitate better collaboration. For example, a few years ago we got rid of the reference desk. We found that it was a barrier to communication. Instead, users are encouraged to meet one-on-one with librarians.
Every two years we conduct a deep-dive survey to shape programs and services, and the library constantly assesses the usefulness of its digital collections by measuring use. These data are used to shape our collections going forward.
On the digital front, the Dickinson Scholar digital repository houses and shares with a national community the scholarly work of our faculty and students, and Archives & Special Collections was a pioneer among liberal-arts colleges in the large-scale digitization of its collections.
Growing diversity in ethnicity, age and gender is something you touched on 18 years ago. Diversity is upon us and the libraries that serve us even more now. What has been done to engage our diverse population in the library setting over the past two decades?
Rather than take a “one size fits all” approach, librarians have become adept at working closely with faculty and students to tailor programs and instruction to the diverse needs of the campus. For instance, last year the library partnered with the LGBT Center of Central PA to create an archive of the central Pennsylvania LGBT community.
The library also has created a program for liaison librarians oriented to the needs of our international students. Also, several information-literacy seminars are taught in other languages, including Spanish and German.
The Internet has evolved pretty thoroughly since your article came out. How has that evolution affected the academic library setting?
Before the Internet took hold, the library had a monopoly on access to scholarly information. You had to go to a building that was open at specific times. The Internet ended that monopoly by creating access to digital collections 24/7 year-round from any physical location. That forced academic libraries to rethink buildings, services and collections to remain relevant.
Back in 1996, you wrote, “Library staff need to leave the safe and familiar cocoons of their library buildings behind and work directly with customers in classrooms, offices and laboratories.” Has this been made a reality?
Yes. When I arrived at Dickinson in 2001, I made it clear that I wanted librarians to take the initiative to engage with faculty in offices, classrooms and labs. The days when faculty and students had to come to us were ending, and we needed to be more proactive.
You said, “The choice is clear. Change now and choose our futures. Change later, or not at all, and have no future.” In the spirit of keeping ahead of the curve, what challenges do you see looming in the future for libraries?
Perhaps the biggest challenge will be recruiting and retaining librarians with the technical, subject-matter and interpersonal skills to support our faculty and students. We find that the competition for the best librarians is keen. I expect that trend to continue.
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Published July 29, 2014