The e-book: Why the fate of bookstores are important to libraries..
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on February 6th, 2012
In a recent article by the New York Times entitled “The Bookstores Last Stand,” we noted that the e-book is changing the way bookstores are serving their customers. The functionality of the bookstore and its viability as a retail store rests on future opportunities to sell electronic media not book sales. Indeed, the large super bookstores of the past are rapidly changing their approach to include electronic media sales and reduce the amount of books on display.
Barns and Noble is attempting to change its course away from books and into e-readers. It is focusing on the Nook to create an electronic supermarket for books while downsizing the number of printed books. In the next two years, Barns and Noble expects to reduce its space for Books, DVD’s and Media to make way for electronic research.
As the bookstores struggle with the e-book technology and the transformation for its space, libraries need to identify ways to manage their future better. ACA witnessed the e-book and its newly found interest first hand during a library planning tour at a Public Library last December. The reference department was inundated with questions from patrons who were buying the kindle as a Christmas present. People were concerned with the viability of the e-reader and the ability to borrow books from the library. They didn’t want to give a family or friend something that didn’t work. Would they be able to use it as a reading tool?
bringing school children into the public library to learn about books.
cell phones are e-readers too.
Apple Store - will the book store look more like this?
We see e-book readers as a great opportunity to promote e-lending and training programs. We see the need to change the functionality of library space to support the e-reader.
Librarians need to be cognizant that electronic media generated a lot of service opportunities in 2011. The landscape for reading has changed forever. Amazon is transforming the publishing world and the way books are sold. Last Christmas 2011, Kindle sales went up 177% from the previous year. Amazon’s Kindle lending library program, launched on November 2, 2011, now contains over 75,000 titles. The company reported that customers borrowed 295,000 titles in December; many of whom were at the Public Library downloading content for free.
From a library space planning perspective, the bookstores demise is an opportunity for libraries to become knowledge centers and not just book repositories. The book will endure in the library, but soon the e-book will have its place too.
Libraries will have new opportunities to create space; new for space dedicated to learning, training and electronic research, new tools to share with your community.
The Community College – According to the President has value..
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on January 26th, 2012
We need our community college libraries to work within, across and beyond their boundaries. We need academic libraries to widen access to scholarly work whenever possible. Despite the lack of funding for libraries in the past, users are becoming more and more likely to use the library to retrain and retool themselves. The State of the Union offered an example of how the country can upgrade its knowledge by investing in community colleges. The President stated, “We need to promote new skills and better education so that all Americans are prepared to compete in a global economy. That’s why, tonight, I call for a new partnership between community colleges and businesses to help train and place 2 million skilled workers.”
We are working on a couple academic library projects including the Coulter Library at Onondaga Community College. It can be retooled and upgraded with a simple plan to improve building use, function and flow. The investments will enable content to flow to the students within, across and beyond the library’s boundaries.
In America Built to Last, the government can improve the lives of younger people by creating community college partnerships. The president cites a goal to retain 2 million people through the community college system. This concept tracks with our own research, indicating that learning environments will help students succeed in building skills for the 21st century.
In other words,academic library’s matter. The physical space will to support the overall goals of the institution to bring student success by offering enhanced research environments. This can be measured by investments in library buildings and the research that results from collaboration.
Student Learning Space
academic library space get ready – apple is getting into e-textbooks – rise of the new groupthink
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on January 16th, 2012
The academic textbook market has been resisting the change from print to digital for a long time. Apple has been moving toward a model for textbooks that may change the playing field. It confirmed a e-textbook publishing event that could start to get traction now that there is a digital publishing model for music and books.
From a librarians perspective, Apple’s textbooks business venture will further enhance the library as a collaborative and individual space. Students of the future will use their e-reader textbook along with a variety of traditional formats for learning. The e-textbook will free up space for storage, but it will also enable new kinds of sharing not seen today, but on the horizon for tomorrow.
In “the Rise of the New Groupthink,” Susan Kane explores the need for solitude in the creative process. From a librarians perspective, the library will not vanish once we have e-textbooks. No, “concentrating the mind on the tasks in hand, and preventing the dissipation of energy on unrelated tasks” is required regardless of the tools you use. The library has a strong role to play for anyone who needs to expand their knowledge and create a world that is honest, strong and supportive.
quiet space for learning
quiet space in the library
The Joy of Quiet in the Library
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on January 2nd, 2012
The library environment can be many things to many people. In 2012, it will be important to off-set the number of active and collaborative spaces with the number of individual spaces for contemplation and quiet.
The “library as place” has a special role to play in our social environment. The amount of communication available can be overwhelming; the average teenager sends or receives 75 text messages a day. The average office worker today enjoys less than three minutes at a time at his or her desk without interruption. The paradox is that we can communicate anywhere anytime.
The library of the future needs to provide spaces for reflection and quiet time something very important for “student success” and learning. The functionality of the library building should always include space to turn-off the communication tools and focus or concentrate. According to “the joy of quiet” – NYTimes Sunday, Jan 1, 2012 – the number of hours American adults spent online doubled between 2005 and 2009 (and the number of hours spent in front of a TV screen, often simultaneously, is also steady increasing). To off-set the constant barrage of information, libraries should be planned with quiet environments. This is not a new idea, but something to consider in the new year.
the language of library space
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research, Social Library Issues, Space Planning on December 20th, 2011
A recent article from Inside Higher Education focuses on the need to balance quiet and active spaces in the library. Project Information Literacy study found that students minimize technology use and try to unplug from their overly distracting social networks when working on projects or studying for exams.
During our library planning studies, we have found that all libraries need environments that allow for social, group and individual study. The library plan should include:
According to “The Future of the Academic Library Symposium: Bridging the Gap, Libraries – “need to be in a state of perpetual beta to effect change.” We believe libraries need to experiment with both quiet and active space.
The University of North Carolina started a Journal of Learning Spaces that is a good place to start an analysis of library space needs. We recommend the journal as a starting point for discussion.
program space ideas
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on December 19th, 2011
library program environment
The New Digital Divide: Library Planning
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on December 5th, 2011
An excellent opinion article by Susan P. Crawford, “The New Digital Divide” provides a valid reason why Public Libraries, Special and Academic Libraries provide a value in the digital age. For the majority of citizen’s, the only access they have to medical, law, jobs and skills is through a cell phone. The “poor and working class – either cannot afford access or use restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet.” Indeed, the “library as place” can offer connection speeds as high as Docsis 2.0 and 3.0 or 105 megabits per second, fast enough to download a music album in three seconds. The library can offer high speed connections when wireless is too slow.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently came out with a study that shows how the divide is affecting economic growth. According to the study, almost 25% of Americans do not have unrestricted access to the Internet. However, roughly 44% of lower income families have some kind of Smart Phones.
The new digital divide can be combated with a new learning center or library environment. The provision of library internet access will enable the community to use real-time video conferencing and virtual classrooms. It can support job creation, higher quality healthcare, better skills and virtual diplomas. The “library as place” is a way to share our resources and build a better future.
School Library Funding
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on November 15th, 2011
The State of California developed a modern library standards. There is a link below that you can use to learn more about it.
The development of library space is key student success. It will help your students prepare to live and learn in a world of information. School libraries help students develop ideas and information. Research shows that a school library with the right staffing, funding, and a rich collection of books has a positive impact on students.
Develop a plan for your library, learn how to provide access to materials in all formats. Help increase students’ interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas. Work with school districts to provide library services for teachers and students.
The California school library funding web site was developed for educators and others who work with school libraries.
Library Planning, E-Book Reader, Sales Predicted to Increase
Posted by acohen in Space Planning, library technology on November 13th, 2011
From a library planning and development perspective, the statistics in this article will be of great significance to the development of library buildings in five years. The library built in today’s world will have to adapt to the e-reader. However, other formats will exist. It is the library collection that will be unique to the knowledge hunters of tomorrow. It is the contents of the physical + virtual library that will be a gathering place for learning and education. It is the librarians that are curators of the collection regardless of the format.
Collaboration Software and Space for Libraries
Posted by acohen in Library Planning Research on November 10th, 2011
There are two types of collaboration software that is changing the ways students use the library. One product is from Media Scape System and the Tidebreak application. 
steelcase collaboration space