Designing Effective Library Learning Spaces in Higher Education

Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger, Milton D. Cox

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781839097843
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Théorie et pratique de l'éducation

Modern academic libraries must respond not only to pedagogical changes, but to technological changes. Accommodating advances in technology into library space, design, and management is a critical challenge. How can modern libraries successfully integrate traditional learnings forms with digital ones? This book presents case studies and empirical evidence which focus on the current landscape and future potential posed by the changing face of libraries. Readers are invited to learn how the re-modelling and new architectural design of existing libraries can revitalise the library space and inculcate digital literacy development within their walls. The authors offer an engaging account of how libraries' meet users' needs and utilize stakeholder inputs to design truly innovative library spaces.

PART I

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING SPACE

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO DESIGNING EFFECTIVE LIBRARY LEARNING SPACES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger and Milton D. Cox

ABSTRACT

A university without an academic library is unimaginable since the library serves as a pivot for both learning and research. Freeman (2005), while talking about the importance of a library in academic life, stated that it holds a unique position, symbolizing the heart of the institution. A good library is not only one that stacks printed material or has portals to access online resources but also provides a flexible learning space with reading rooms, facilitates discussion and encourages collaborative learning and scholarship. With limited resources, it is increasingly difficult for universities to allocate funds to re-design library spaces. Modern academic libraries have to respond not only to pedagogical changes but also to technological changes, accommodating them in the library space design and management. Modern libraries are trying to integrate features of the traditional form of learning as well as the digital form. This book will present case studies and empirical evidence discussing the changing face of libraries. It will talk about re-modeling of existing libraries with the help of new architectural design to utilize the space and inculcate the digital literacy development. Scholars discuss, in the chapters, how they meet users’ needs and how they use in stakeholders’ inputs to design innovative library spaces.

Keywords: Design; stakeholders; digital literacy; student centered; learning space; collaborative learning; traditional; resources; technological changes; architectural design; scholarship

INTRODUCTION

Tracing the emergence of the concept of a library takes us to Mesopotamian civilization, where knowledge was baked in a clay tablet called cuneiform and alphabets were pictographs. The civilization had designated space where the clay tablets were kept for people to access and read, and thus started the organized form of a library. The medieval period also showed the growth of monastic libraries in cathedrals and churches, usually accessed by the religious communities. According to Edoka (2000), the concept of universities having their own dedicated library space started with Bologna and Salerno in Italy, Paris in France and Oxford in England. Gradually libraries occupied a prime position in the university and their non-existence became unimaginable. Discovery of printing revolutionized the concept of reading and broadening the distribution of knowledge through libraries. With the growth of universities and colleges, the number of libraries also grew rapidly. Libraries were meant to enhance the goal of teaching and learning and create an atmosphere of student-centered learning. They were meant to support students, faculty, academic and non-academic staff members and help them in their teaching and research agenda.

Modern libraries are no longer dingy dark rooms with dust-covered jackets and badly stacked books decaying in a damp atmosphere. The traditional model of long winding corridors of a library with bookshelves has transformed, making space to accommodate the digital age. The library of today is redesigned to a range of teaching and learning activities as well as an avid research agenda along with the rapid changing environment of information technology. Libraries are no longer designed by an individual alone but transformed after a stakeholders’ meeting, keeping with the resources and facilities available. Freeman (2005), while talking about the importance of a library in academic life, stated that it holds a unique position, symbolizing the heart of the institution.

Some academics view the concept of a library as slowly becoming redundant. Carlson (2001) argues that libraries can be referred to as “deserted library” due to the increasing popularity of the internet. While other academicians have stated that the importance of the library, as an integral part of teaching and learning, remains as important as it was yesterday. The pertinent question that a librarian faces these days is the blend of virtual and physical facilities and what would be the best practices in planning that can accommodate the demands of both worlds. With the turn of the century, the electronic world is gaining precedence over the real. Students are now used to access online teaching, easy to work assignments that are submitted via emails, term papers, teaching videos, etc.

However, it doesn’t mean that students are abandoning the concept of accessing a library. Students are choosing the physical library as much as they would use it earlier and even in increasing numbers in renovated libraries (Shill & Tonner, 2003). The usage of print material has reduced considerably but students are still engaged in academic work inside the premises of a library (Foster, 2010; Foster & Gibbons, 2007; Suarez, 2007).

The main stakeholders of a library are the students who are changing rapidly and they are a diverse group that varies in terms of age, ethnicity, experience and preference. In this complex and shifting landscape, there is no standard method that can be applied for all libraries. The role of a librarian remains somewhat fuzzy and our expectations from them. Nonetheless, librarians are in search of a time-tested model that can predict the effective use of library space and its resources. The paradigm shift of a library from a print-based medium to that of an electronic one calls for a critical viewpoint of usage of library space and its resources. Academic librarians, architects and those who are appointed as library administrators are now collaborating to ensure libraries are used as space and place where convenient learning and research environment is provided to both students and faculty.

Space has been the single most important element in a library apart from the resources it stores (Okwor & Ihekwoaba, 2011). When one is designing the space, one needs to keep three things in consideration and they are functionality, usability and attractiveness of the space. Cohen and Cohen (1979) believe that these three things need to be integrated to create attractiveness and usage of the library space. Space needs to be re-arranged in keeping with the fact that people find it easy to maneuver and use it often for their work.

Cohen and Cohen (1979) further noted that everything found in the library such as the furniture, layout, people, traffic flow, light, acoustic and even the color scheme used in the library has a profound effect on the user including the staff. Interior design and the management of the library determine to a large extent the usability of a library. It has been noted that a perpetually noisy place or a dimly lit one deters the users from frequenting the place, as much as dusty racks or books kept in a haphazard manner. The library space ought to have capacity for expansion and addition of collection. At the same time, it should be comfortable and ergonomic in nature. Esthetic beauty does play a vital role in attracting traffic and an ill kept library talks about the disorganization and poor morale of its management and staff.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Academics have been emphasizing the importance of a well-designed library space as a collaborative learning space. McDonald (1996, p. 3) argues that a library “... has shifted the balance from teaching in classrooms to learning in libraries,” with emphasis given for space management. Brindley (1995, p. 4), acknowledges the changing pattern of a library and states that “we are all guilty of not paying enough attention to implementation matters in a complex and holistic way demanded by the challenge of student-centered learning.”

Furthermore, Brophy (2002, p. 5) agrees, “Academic libraries must make every effort to integrate their services into the mainstream learning, teaching and research of their institution.” One cannot delineate the changing role of libraries as an aid toward learning, and the qualities and features of academic library space that helps contribute toward student-centered learning. Brophy (2002) advocates the adoption of institutions of higher education the concept of managed learning environments which calls for libraries to organize a coordinated effort to integrate its resources (notably electronic, printed and spatial) which helps in supporting the “language of pedagogy,” “... tailored to the learning styles of students and the learning modes which teachers have adopted” (p. 5).

Changes in the teaching–learning process have undergone rapid changes with the advancement of information communication technology. The demand for electronic resources has led to an integration of both print and electronic mediums in traditional libraries, adopting a system of convergence and bringing together computing services with books and other printed mediums of knowledge. Commenting on such convergence Brawne (1997, p. 6) suggests that buildings that housed libraries in the last decade act as “architectural explorations” of the pedagogical and technological challenges faced by library designers, and so:

[…] no single example could be said to be definitive.” Seeking a benchmark in library design to incorporate both the worlds is nearly impossible as “no single blueprint and no simple prescriptions can be developed. (Joint Funding Councils 1993, p.25)

Hence, Metcalf, Leighton, and Weber (1986) suggested that no general principle can be applied with regard to accommodating both the virtual and real world and every institution must understand its own unique and special position that it has created with regard to its institution-specific teaching and learning and research objectives. The focus should be toward creating the functionality or fitness of the purpose of achieving objectives like “ease of use and economy of operation” (McDonald, 1998, p. 191).

The paradigm shift in teaching–learning process is far removed from the traditional process where students were expected to absorb information, synthesize them and reproduce. Modern-day students should be able to explore, experiment, solve problems, work in teams, think laterally and think creatively; they are expected to use their knowledge to find global solutions to problems. Libraries should be designed so that students can “access the information while carrying out some other activity” (Rusbridge, 1998). De Castell (2000, p. 365) argues libraries must “nurture literate communities” and suggests that new digital literacies (DLs) are incorporated in a modern-day library that facilitates the use of emerging technologies. Juceviciene and Tautkeviciene (2003) state that modern ways of learning are facilitated not only in classroom settings but wherever learners can access information and resources that can help them in solving problems or constructing a new meaning.

Adeogun (2008) advocates that the traditional role of librarians has given way to those who are now viewed as consultants in information and resource management teams who act as coordinators of information and technology applications, support research methods and provide instructions to both students and faculty ineffective usage of information and technology to enhance the teaching–learning process. Learning, according to Adeogun (2008), takes place in a library which provides a vibrant learning environment in the university. Hardwick (1996, p. 107) asserts, “librarians need to be schooled in the pedagogical issues implicit in designing a learning environment that promotes reflective and critical thinking.” For effective learning Dowler (1997) and Wilkinson (1997) state that students should be provided with the necessary space to actively engage in reading, discuss...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Part I. Collaborative Learning Space
• Part II. Effective Design
• About the Authors
• Name Index
• Subject Index