Mercy College
Written by msakarya on Thu, 03/03/2016 – 14:34
As print book circulation and traditional librarian research interactions steadily drop, academic libraries are seeking ways to reinvent, redefine and repurpose space for a 21st century information landscape. Additionally, students enter college with a wide range of needs, interests, skill levels and goals much different than in the past, and the library is ideally positioned to serve these students in new and interesting ways.
One broad way is by enhancing the notion of information literacy, and having it include concepts like digital and technology fluency. To become even more valuable in the marketplace, students need to understand how to use the hard and soft technologies that contain the digital information and content that libraries deal with every day. Many libraries are creating highly interactive “Makerspaces” that provide tools, technology and training that enable students to explore how to create and preserve real and digital objects as well as other materials and information.
The library is ideally positioned to provide these kinds of experimental, exploratory, creative spaces, since libraries have always been about learning and creating. But how can libraries begin to invest in this kind of learning environment, as it will require staff retraining, budgetary considerations and closer collaboration with IT. It will also require a new kind of collaboration with faculty and curriculum that could open up opportunities, but also great challenges.
I would love for METRO to offer some professional opportunities to help academic libraries think and develop in this direction. Perhaps have staff or librarians from a library successfully running a makerspace facility come speak at METRO? Greatly looking forward to your thoughts on this!