I’m not going to get a fully fledged blog post written this week – on what is normally designated my “blogging afternoon” on my calendar – because of a looming conference deadline, a laptop crash and piles of grading. So, this week, I give you some photos and some questions.
I recently picked up some books from the Henry Madden Library here on the Fresno State campus. I went to the stacks, which, like many libraries today, use compact mobile shelving – motorized shelves that move apart at a user’s command – in order to store more books in a smaller space. It looks like this:
So when you want to find a book, you find the shelves that contain the book’s call number, press the “move right” or “move left” button, and then wait while the shelves beep (too loudly, in my opinion) and separate accordingly.
However, the library offers us some specific directions for using the shelves, as seen below:
I completely understand having this sign from an efficiency perspective. Of course, library users should not prevent others from locating their books by dawdling in the shelves.
I wonder, though, if these shelves and this sign change the way that users perceive the library, and, by extension, the purpose of a collection of books and of books themselves.
We’re already in an age in which information is expected to be pinpointed at a moment’s notice through the use of Google and so forth. Now, students walk into the library, call number in hand from an online search at home; open the shelves; grab a book – and get out of the way, as directed.
Some of my best moments in college were those spent just wandering the stacks of my university library, looking for other books related to those I’d identified through the online catalog, finding connections to other disciplines and other texts that I hadn’t anticipated before I spotted other books in the stacks. I know that those experiences enriched my education and gave me a greater appreciation for other fields of study.
Is it unrealistic? elitist? old-fashioned? overly nostalgic? nerdy? of me to want a library to encourage students to have that same kind of exploration? Or perhaps it’s completely reasonable to limit somewhat those rambling book excursions, in the name of preserving storage space, providing more workspace for students’ collaborative efforts, and promoting efficiency in information retrieval. Maybe the Google model – targeted access to information, fast and easy – is adequate for libraries and students today.
I’m torn. But not so torn that I could stop taking these photos in the library.
…433 words – that’s pretty darn fledged. Oh, well. Back to work.
