I think Librarians help people find information and books in a library. They also act as a liaison between group and individual setting by being able to adapt to a plethora of different situations. For example, Ms. Moser could help an entire class with its library research assignment which focuses on a broad scope of health topics. Meanwhile, a minute later, she could help a first-year medical student find information on a specific type of adenocarcinoma. In this example, it is evident that librarians can easily work in individual and group environments which, in turn, exemplifies their versatility.
I also think that it would be really cool if librarians held teaching sessions where they could inform students about the latest information regarding library research or new books in the library. Students are always looking for the most recent information for their intense graduate or professional classes; thus, an informational session could be handy for research projects.
In the future, I think libraries around the world will have little white cubicles where only one person can sit and read a book or work on homework in complete silence. However, inside the normal library section where the bookshelves are located, people can converse as loud as they please while the quiet cubicles are located in a different section of the building. In Manhattan, New York, one of the busiest cities in the United States, there are companies which have locations across the city, offering cubicles where citizens can get 3-10 hours of sleep in a quiet, uninterrupted area. This type of cocooned bliss would be the basis behind the quiet centers of future libraries.
Your view of the physical library of the future is in-line from what our users are telling us. While the users will never be able to "be as loud as they want" (!), we have been investigating creating more of an "information commons" approach of a larger common area but also more individual study areas. Interestingly enough, our quiet study room on the second floor is seldom used, partially because there are just study carrels and not individual rooms while our group rooms are often occupied by single users. It seem like when our users want to collaborate, they want everyone included but when they want to study solo, they need their "Cone of Silence"!
ReplyDeleteJulie Silverman, MLS, MBA
Head of Collection Management
Univ. of Colorado Health Sciences Library
Anschutz Medical Campus