They removed a window from the 2nd floor of the library and are lifting book carts wrapped in cellophane with a wheel loader forklift down to the plaza. This apparently is the efficient way a company like Iron Mountain takes possession of mass quantities of bound volumes for storage. And their workers are efficient—the large team hustles to get the carts filled, moved down, and then loaded into the truck. While us librarians and library assistants enjoy the luxury of quiet summer at the University. Information professionals vs. manual laborers.
Of all the topics around which the academic activity of professional librarianship takes place, why are the matters of the physical library the least discussed yet are the ones that occupy my mind most? Am I low minded, have not yet cut my librarian teeth?
It is simply momentous to stroll into work and pass by dozens of carts of bound periodicals wrapped in cellophane placidly waiting for transport.
The most momentous is to come: the demolition of the stacks that formerly held the periodicals, the construction of new classrooms and "huddle"/group study rooms, the movement of three discrete departments into the library.
I take in the physical cues of my work environment hungrily and poetically, looking for signals indicating fortune or predicting turmoil. My focus is always on the change in the library, and I suppose I see the path plowed by this change opening the possibilities for the "future of libraries": more meeting, more instruction, more collaboration, more technology; the confluence of campus services to make a one stop shop for students.
A research question for myself as I cut my librarian teeth: what profound influence does technology have on vending library services to our clientele? Beyond the ways in which and reasons I fastidiously manage the computer lab. (For example: what about the assumption students bring their own laptops—or are able to bring their own laptops—to library instruction sessions or to the library in general. Where is the data and what is the impact?) CIT seems to think everyone is BYOL, but I think students find it inconvenient to lug a laptop to campus due to the increase in student commute times due to rent prices in the City and space issues on campus.
To think about penetrating this question, get to the bottom of it: user testing and user surveys vs. going out on a limb in the name of innovation—how are they really using the library's electronic resources (including the website), where is the intersection of socio-economic class and the need for access to technological tools (student demographics).
Regardless of it all, the efficacy and immediacy of servicing an article request via instant message during my reference desk shift this past Saturday hit on the creature comforts of keeping physical holdings in-house. On the other side, the glaring price we pay for innovation, for embracing change: having to wait a couple days or weeks to get that 1968 article from Adult Leadership through document delivery/interlibrary loan... because there are betters ways to utilize our meager space than house massive print collections in the 21st century.
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