FORGET WHAT YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT LIBRARIES


Card catalogues, huge print collections and microfilm — all things you could expect in a library 30+ years ago.


Now throw that out in place of online databases, smaller print collections, group study rooms, tech devices, fit desks, a music lab and more, and you have the modern university library.


When Winthrop University’s Ida Jane Dacus Library was completed in 1969, few could foresee the drastic way libraries would evolve over the next five decades. Changes were necessary to keep patrons physically visiting the stacks and not solely relying on online resources. As some question whether we even need libraries anymore, Dean Mark Herring has an answer.


“Some readers may find it laughable to put the words ‘exciting’ and ‘librarian’ together in the same sentence, but I must,” he said. “Frankly, it really is one of the most exciting times ever to be a librarian.”


When Herring arrived in 1999, Dacus’ materials budget hit about $400,000, evenly distributed between print and non- print. Today, that budget clocks in at more than $1 million, with 80 percent going toward non-print, i.e., digital access. That has prompted some difficult decisions, he said, such as moving from a robust, but costly, integrated library system to a less expensive, but also less inclusive, one.


But this brings some advantages, too. At print’s pinnacle, students could access more than 3,000 journals with a visit to Dacus.


“Today’s Winthrop’s student has access to more than 30,000 journals, nearly all of which can be read while lying in bed in their pajamas!” Herring said.


But libraries are about more than books these days, he pointed out.


“We must provide access to the web, access to journals and databases and provide group and individual study areas,” he explained. “The library today is not only not the one your mother used, but very likely not the one you used if you graduated more than five years ago. The changes are rapid and palpable. Attending to everyone’s needs isn’t easy.”


No one knows that more than outreach librarian Michaela Volkmar. Her duties include promoting the library’s resources and services and educating Winthrop students, faculty and staff in capitalizing on those resources. The library underwent a main-floor renovation in 2012 that created an information commons, techno-booths, group study rooms featuring smart boards, and added 24-hours/five days a week (Sundays-Thursdays) access based on student feedback, as well as added fit desks and a music lab more recently. But staff members still struggle to make a nearly 50-year-old building inviting.


LaSamrae Vandross demonstrates one of the Dacus Library’s new fit desks, which allow students to get in a cardio workout while they study.


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“[At the beginning of the semester] Students were in here just to check out textbooks and check out a laptop,” Volkmar said. “It’s not until a few weeks in when you get students coming for reference help.”


Libraries may have evolved, she added, but students’ needs are still the same: computer access, textbook reserves and research resources.


That’s the key: teaching students about credible resources and how to find them.


Volkmar also has implemented unconventional outreach activities for students, including:


»» Book-A-Librarian: Students can sign up for one-on-one research consultations with Dacus librarians. “Every single student I’ve met with or heard from is really appreciative of the individualized research assistance we provide,” she said.


»» Easter egg hunt: Eggs were hidden between books and other not-so-obvious spots in the library.


»» Doughnuts with Dacus: Volkmar sets up in the DiGiorgio Campus Center and offers doughnuts while talking to students about the library.


»» Pokémon Go-inspired scavenger hunt: This fun activity had students searching for bookmarks on all three floors.


“So much of what they can do here, they can do in their dorm,” Volkmar said. “But we absolutely need libraries and librarians. Just because you have resources online doesn’t mean you know how to use them. Searching for credible information isn’t as easy as students think it will be. That’s why librarians, who are experts in searching for information, are a resource in and of themselves.”


Herring added, “In today’s world of fake news, librarians are more relevant and more needed than ever before.”


While difficult to imagine the next 50 years in library services, rest assured Winthrop librarians will continue to serve students in support of their academic endeavors by always evolving with technology changes and listening to student needs.


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