Reconfiguring Library Space to Support Learning and Research
The phenomenon of the increasing importance of “library as place,” in an era when it matters less and less where information resides, is widely noted and commented on in the library community. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) recently reported that much space in research libraries is busier than ever before. About 1.5 million people walk through the UM Libraries’ doors annually. This is an average of over 45 trips a year to the Libraries by every student and faculty member on campus. ARL also reported that library space is now viewed as learning space on equal footing with classrooms and laboratories. Thus, the library as a place, a community for collaborative learning and research, is still vital to maintain and improve.
Unfortunately, College Park’s seven libraries are at capacity and, like other campus facilities, suffer from the effects of inadequate resources and attention to repair, long-term maintenance and renovation. Furthermore, even with internal relocation, the Libraries cannot generate enough resources to fully fund the work that is needed. The Libraries, at present budget levels, could reallocate no more than $50,000 - $75,000 a year, toward projects needing millions total.
Even so, in five years the UM Libraries, with the University, should have accomplished the following remedial and developmental steps:
- Long-term solutions to serious infrastructure, temperature and humidity control and maintenance problems in all libraries, but especially in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library and McKeldin Library, should have been identified, prioritized, and plans made and sources of funding identified to correct the problems.
- Renovation of the Hornbake Library to house Nonprint Media Services and special collections (including movement of the Gordon W. Prange Collection from McKeldin to Hornbake and including a proper conservation environment) will be complete.
- Areas within McKeldin Library should have been reallocated to increase space for public workstations, group study and research, WAM lab, community spaces (such as the caf&#eacute;), partnerships like the undergrad research center and 24/5 study.
- A new off-site shelving facility will be operational, to satisfy UM’s and Johns Hopkins’ needs for space for less frequently used materials accompanied by rapid retrieval of books and digital transmission of journal articles and chapters.
- Plans for a new, combined Art and Architecture Library in the Visual Arts and Cultures Center should be on the state’s ten-year list of Capital Improvement Projects.
- All libraries should be better outfitted for e-access, wireless data networks, etc. to provide the an optimal experience by users of access to electronic and print resources.
