TY - JOUR AB - Purpose The paper aims to explore the issues surrounding the user conceptualisation of academic libraries. The paper will solidify the role of academic libraries as learning spaces and problematise how libraries are conceptualised by users.Design/methodology/approach The paper is a literature-based conceptual paper and draws on a wide range of literature to challenge the concept of academic libraries and presents how they are becoming reframed as different spaces.Findings The paper argues that the concept of a library is at risk. While libraries have undergone substantial changes, the concept of a library has lingered. This paper demonstrated that libraries need to proactively engage users in this debate.Originality/value The spatial approach taken by this paper demonstrates the complicity behind the user conceptualisation of libraries. Developing an understanding of this process is an important foundation for libraries to develop their user engagement. VL - 117 IS - 5/6 SN - 0307-4803 DO - 10.1108/NLW-10-2015-0079 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-10-2015-0079 AU - Fallin Lee PY - 2016 Y1 - 2016/01/01 TI - Beyond books: the concept of the academic library as learning space T2 - New Library World PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 308 EP - 320 Y2 - 2024/04/24 ER -