A Policy-Based Approach to Technology Systems.

© 2008 James C. Haug Yale University Librarian Emeritus Scott Bennett describes libraries as learning spaces in “recognition of the essential social dimension of knowledge and learning...where learning is the primary activity.”1 At the same time, in order to ensure support for and easy access to research, reference, and other learning resources in a collaborative setting, libraries must accommodate many of the characteristics that Dan Tapscott attributes to the Net Generation, including independence, curiosity, innovation, the desire for social acceptance, and expectations of immediacy.2 Students are quick to recognize this all-important social dimension, and today’s college and university recruiters understand that “new student facilities and services are needed to attract and retain students.”3 An institution’s library is frequently the building targeted for hosting these new attractions. Instead of viewing the library as simply the place to find information or a quiet place to study, contemporary students have come to expect an information commons, with learning spaces that are modern and user-centered, with comfortable chairs, good lighting, room to spread out, and everything at their fingertips.4 In the late 1990s, libraries began rearranging their reference resources, facilities, furniture, and equipment in an effort to improve physical ambience and thus encourage more extensive use of their services. The quiet sitting rooms of the traditional library have evolved into the most technologically advanced spots on campus, providing an “environment where print, nonprint, and electronic resources can be used simultaneously for individual or group research.”5