Library Buildings at the Threshold of Change

Abstract

In November 2001, Scott Carlson, in the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote an article on library use titled “The deserted library: As students work online, reading rooms empty out—leading some campuses to add Starbucks” (Carlson, 2001). The essence of this chapter is that many librarians, facing dramatic declines in library gate counts resulting from the wealth of electronic resources accessible remotely, were beginning to move away from traditional conceptions of the library as primarily a repository for print collections. Carlson describes the “tough sell” that the Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville had experienced when planning a $19.5 million library addition in the mid-1990s. In response librarians had begun “fighting back” with “plush chairs, double-mocha lattes, book groups, author readings.” Still, no one knew whether these stratagems would enhance learning or bring its readers back.

Citation

Goodrich Jones, W. (2006), "Library Buildings at the Threshold of Change", Nitecki, D.A. and Abels, E.G. (Ed.) Advances in Librarianship (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 30), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 201-230. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2830(06)30006-2