April 7, 2006
We would like to offer a correction and a couple points of clarification to the article, “Library to receive renovation” (March 24, 2006). Scott Bennett, the library consultant who visited our campus Feb, 28 through March 2, did not come to us from Yale University. He had been University Librarian at Yale from 1994 to 2001, but now runs a business called Library Space Planning, located in Urbana, Illinois.
As written, the lead sentence may have misled the reader into thinking that we are at the end of a “lengthy evaluation,” when we are only at the beginning. Dr. Bennett was here to help us start thinking about the library and its physical and space needs as they relate to the mission of Milligan College as a whole. The tone of the article may have also created the false impression that planned renovations were extensive and set to be implemented immediately.
The article correctly pointed out that the vacating of the president’s office and IT Department in the summer will quickly open up additional space in the library that might be utilized in a number of ways. We hope, for example, to provide more areas for students to stretch out and study more comfortably in groups or individually. We will also be experimenting with other ways to make the library more inviting. But these initial steps at “renovation” will be relatively modest and will not require large expenditures. The reader should not miss, in contrast, that Academic Dean Mark Matson said “long-term renovations…will be expensive and take more time.”
The Welshimer Library has traditionally functioned as “a place to store information resources.” When queried for the article, Reference Librarian Gary Daught did not mean to suggest that this should continue to be its primary function. Rather, following the view of the consultant, this storage function should be transformed toward a learning function. This shift in focus aims to be much more responsive to student needs. Dr. Bennett’s report emphasizes very strongly the importance of studying the needs of learners, that is, the students, as we explore how best to transform the interior of the library. We hope this focus will guide the renovation plan as it unfolds, both in the short and long term.
Written by Steven Preston, director of library services and Gary F. Daught, reference and collection development librarian