

Oxford University: How do you design the library of the future? - Hooke
https://medium.com/@Oxford_University/how-do-you-design-the-library-of-the-future-22d9344e40f7

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archivator
The Bod and in general the wider library system in Oxford (over 120
libraries!) was easily the best part of my undergrad academic life there.
Having a dedicated space for studying, open 24/7, within 20m of my room was
absolutely liberating and fundamental to the experience.

I sometimes wonder whether I should continue my education somewhere like
Oxford, just so I can experience the focused concentration of a library again.

~~~
Osmium
> Having a dedicated space for studying, open 24/7, within 20m of my room was
> absolutely liberating and fundamental to the experience.

My sentiments exactly. I chose my undergrad college (not at Oxford) for the
sole reason that it made particular mention that its library was open 24/7 on
its website. I figured it was as good a reason as any, and it turned out
great.

I've also had experience with another university in the states that has an
open stacks policy–anyone can just walk in and use a desk or read a book, no
registration, card swipes or anything required. Absolutely liberating.
Instantly made the university so much more welcoming (contrast this to the
university I'm currently at where you have to jump through hoops to get a
visitor access to the library, and if they're there without someone to sponsor
them, god help them).

~~~
walterbell
A web search identified Stony Brook as having an open-stacks policy. Are there
others? Proximity to such libraries could be promoted by real-estate agents.

Humans are so much more than symbol processing algos. Physical environment and
context matter to the creativity which is our primary species differentiator.

Libraries can be viewed as always-evolving local caches. Digital images reduce
the latency of discovery, but like travel to a distant land, nothing can
substitute for tactile experience and three-dimensional motor memory as
anchors of emotional experiences and learning.

~~~
TheCowboy
Many university libraries will allow non-students, or at least they only check
for a student ID before and after certain hours.

Even then, it's easy to sneak through if you act like you belong there.
Librarians tend not to be the type that try hard to keep people out of a
library. If it's actual campus security, that's a different situation.

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Ciantic
Helsinki is building a new library, to be ready 2017. I think they've taken
steps toward future of libraries. With more focus on spaces, and learning. I
think this is the key here, if the physical books gets marginalized it should
re-branded as a learning space. You can read more about Helsinki library
project in English here:
[http://keskustakirjasto.fi/en/](http://keskustakirjasto.fi/en/)

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cge
As someone who has been able to see somewhat the evolution of academic
libraries over the past several years from a somewhat outside perspective, I
would have to argue that this article does an excellent job of talking about
interesting, attractive new directions while carefully tiptoeing around the
larger problems, around the actual decline of the academic library.

Yes, libraries often—and increasingly— _have_ great study spaces. They are
becoming places for scholars to congregate. They can have staff that are
increasingly available to do interesting research and offer interesting
information. _Special collections_ libraries also have far fewer problems than
normal academic libraries, which is why they tend to be highlighted, as they
are here, when talking about how the academic library is not dying: people
will always want spaces to store historical treasures, and with exhibition
spaces, to display them. This is a matter of both sentimentality and
preservation. Yet while these directions offer hope that the academic library
might evolve into something new, they do not mean that most of the institution
is not dying.

The academic library of the past was _immense_ , because it had to be.
Suitable resources to support wide-ranging research take up vast amounts of
space, and when those resources were combined into a few locations, wide,
diverse groups of scholars would need to congregate there. The result was
that, by necessity, academic libraries tended to be giant, central points at
universities.

At Caltech, my university now, our obelisk of a main library towers ten
stories over our minuscule campus. It is still far too small to have ever held
a decent collection. At UCSD, my alma mater, the library is a vast building
that the entire campus spreads out around, built upon a giant plinth and so
central and iconic that much of the university's image is defined around its
appearance. At one point, there were at least nine other libraries there, many
of them also quite large and central to smaller regions of the campus. Most
have quietly closed.

Academic libraries throughout the world were much the same, or, alternatively,
were large networks of small libraries that worked together to supply the
immense space and resources required for research and learning. In either
case, they invariably took a huge amount of space on campuses, and became
central figures in academic life.

And that: the academic library as a vast physical repository of knowledge and
vital location of support for research, _is_ dying. To say that the academic
library is not dying because some consequences of its construction are
thriving is to ignore that the central idea of the academic library _is_.

There is little need now for the vast collections, for the rows of printed and
bound periodicals, for the shelves that stretch to the end of one's vision.
Yes, libraries can show statistics that their study spaces are more popular
than ever. What about their hearts, though? I would guess that stacks now are
visited by fewer people than ever, except perhaps the few people who enjoy
studying in even emptier, quieter places than dedicated study spaces.

This is largely a consequence of the internet. It applies to special
collections too: digitization is becoming ever better, and talking about how
some documents with color were once digitized in black and white is ultimately
short-sighted. Even for the physical items in normal collections, changes in
logistics mean that having numerous universities with repeated, self-serve
collections doesn't make nearly as much sense. You see this with things like
the UC system's consolidated library facilities: ultra-high density closed
stacks designed more like a shipping warehouse than a library, shipping out
books to scholars across the state who request them. These, rather than shiny
new buildings in the center of campus, are probably the unattractive but
efficient future of library stacks.

Yes, much has been said of libraries as study spaces and places to congregate,
but think of it this way: if academic libraries had never existed, and you
were designing a space for scholars to congregate and for the public to see
some exhibitions, as this article is essentially arguing that academic
libraries are becoming, would you make it around _300,000 square feet_ , as
the library at UCSD is? Would you, as at Oxford, build _over 120 of them_?

We are repurposing these buildings, taking what were originally their
secondary purposes and making them the primary ones. And as the primary
purpose _does_ die, it causes unpleasant but inevitable changes. At
universities throughout the world, there are vast amounts of stack space that
will eventually need to be repurposed to something else, and only a small
portion will end up being adapted to the purposes of the "new" academic
library. Staff to support large physical collections will no longer be needed
or sustainable. Universities with library networks will see many libraries die
out: the other side of the happy story being told in this article about the
new stack space at the Weston is that it is being created as a consolidation
of other libraries, not as a space for new acquisitions. Libraries as machines
that were once vast and localized are being turned into something more global
and more efficient, but also far less attractive to us and far smaller as a
whole.

I am quite encouraged by moves to redefine the academic library as a gathering
place for scholars, a physical beacon of research and academia in a digital
age. I think it's a good concept with great potential, and something that we
need. As a central social location, it may be wonderful in fostering scholarly
communication, camaraderie and community.

Yet the academic library of old _is_ dying, not evolving. The death needs to
be acknowledged, not hidden. It is perhaps better to think of the current
situation, as the death and rebirth of the academic library.

~~~
jamessb
_if academic libraries had never existed, and you were designing a space for
scholars to congregate . . . Would you, as at Oxford, build over 120 of them?_

Yes. At least, in a university that was structured similarly to Oxford.

I think an important point is that Oxford and Cambridge are collegiate
universities: undergraduates spend a lot of time in their college, which
provides accommodation, catering and libraries; if academic libraries had
never existed and I were deciding how many study/congregation spaces to
create, I would definitely have one in each college, and in each department.

Oxford has 38 Colleges and 6 Permanent Private Halls, which this accounts for
a significant proportion of the libraries. As most colleges and departments
have some kind of hall/cafeteria, the number of places in the university
serving food may also seem excessive to you.

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ed_blackburn
A library. Conducive to productivity and focus. What it's missing is cubes,
rows of desks, a pool table, a fridge full of beer and a helter-skelter
between floors.

On another note. I went into my new local library for the first time this
week. I don't have an office space at home at the moment and will need a space
to concentrate for 5 -8 hour spells once or twice a wee soon. The library has
a cafe, toilets and free wi-fi. Perfect.

Libraries and the new Starbucks(!)

------
bane
My wife and I sometimes head to our local library for a change of scenery.
It's incredibly well designed as a relaxing place to hang out, read and study.

\- Private study rooms, and a conference room anybody can book for free.

\- A dedicated auditorium for lectures, events etc.

\- Children sections are on the first floor, behind a separate wall, keeping
the adult areas quiet.

\- Teen section is its own section, behind closed doors. It looks almost like
a reference section at a more traditional library, except it's just for teens
to hang out in. It too has it's own dedicated section.

\- A cafeteria-like snack, study area. More tables and desks for study. Only
you're allowed to eat and drink in this area.

\- The rest of the library looks like a college study area, desks with power,
comfortable lounge chairs by bright open windows

\- Periodicals and magazines are next to an open air, casual reclining spot.

\- Well staffed info desks are impossible to miss. They even have teens
volunteer to staff special teen desks.

\- They have a bank of computers for people who need to use one.

\- They host numerous events through the week, from minecraft clubs to
retrogaming clubs, reading groups, guest lecturers, authors, puppet shows,
story time, gardening seed exchanges, lego builds

\- High speed free wi-fi

\- robust support for e-book readers, tablets, streaming music, emagazines,
all from the county website.

I'd like to compare it to something else, but I can't really think of anything
that's _quite_ like it, and it's amazing. It's a place people actually _want_
to come and it's usually packed. Even in the middle of a work day, when I've
gone there when working from home, it's generally full of people and far more
pleasant than any coffee shop I've spent time in.

I think the reason they're successful is that rather than just being a
warehouse full of organized books, like the libraries I grew up with, the
local library system has dedicated itself to being a more general community
communication and information resource. They provide space, light, internet
(all for free), and let the activities and groups use them for any worthwhile
learning activity.

What it's not

\- a community center, people don't rent it out for birthdays or parties

\- a school, they don't provide a school-like resource, it's more like a
college study area, the county offers other robust continuing education
resources for people who want to take classes (I've taken some and they're
well run, rewarding and absurdly cheap)

\- a hang-out, you see plenty of groups of kids, but they're there to share
learning experiences, not to hang around killing time

