A social-learning commons The popularity of coffee shops, shopping malls, and teen centers demonstrates peoples desire to meet and learn in a physical environment. Libraries need to be a high-touch environment in a high-touch world, says Johnson, with comfortable seating, flexible furniture arrangements, and attention to aesthetics in lighting and colors [that] make the library a place where students and staff want to be. Libraries should be used for meetings, research, tutoring, and specialized student services.
Production and presentation The library should be less a grocery store where people get stuff than a kitchen where people make stuff, says Johnson. Students should have access to computers with lots of memory, robust processing speed, and software for music and video production and photo-editing, as well as presentation formats like interactive whiteboards and audience response systems.
Teaching spaces The librarys resources have changed, he says, but not its mission: teaching people to effectively access information to meet their needs. The emphasis has shifted from teaching learners how to find and organize information to teaching them how to evaluate and use information. The librarian is key to teaching students these skills in large-group, small-group, and individual formats.
Libraries need a re-purposing to be relevant today as a new social and intellectual center!
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