The Evolution of Library Spaces

2) Has your library's space evolved? If so, explain as best you can. As an example, when I worked at Mississippi College on two separate occasions we did away with our government documents collection (became enclosed study rooms) and our microfilm area (became a coffee shop with areas to study). This was done in an effort to encourage and accommodate student study space which is one of the primary aims of the law school library.  

Because I have not worked at a library, I will describe the changes I have observed in the libraries I have visited over the years. When I was in grades K-10 at the LSU Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, VA, the school library had a card catalog system. There was also a check-out system that used a bar code reader and computer that was there, as far as I can remember, from the very beginning. So you could ask the librarian to find books using the computer cataloging system. I recall there were some questions regarding which books could be checked out by which grade level students. By the time I was in middle school, the school library had some computers that students could use to browse the internet and search for books. The public library I used most commonly was the Bluebonnet Library in the East Baton Rouge Parish Library system. I also used the Main Library at Goodwood before and after it was renovated. The library is adjacent to a large public park with a fairground and garden and now has a small coffee shop/ gift shop or restaurant, wetland-style water pollution abatement outdoor architectural features, and a large high-resolution outdoor screen. Most EBRPL libraries have a collection of art including prints that can be checked out. Baton Rouge recently renovated the downtown library, River Center Branch Library. Baton Rouge's downtown has a few restaurants and hotels and the new library features a modern, international style, cantilevered design. The library functions as a community center and will hopefully lead to the revitalization of downtown. 

Under the Bobby Jindal administration, architectural treasures such as Repentance Fountain were destroyed to save money. The completion of the new River Center Library marks a reversal of destructive trends enacted under the Jindal and Foster governorships. I recall that EBRPL libraries used PCs with Dynix Terminal software for at least 2 decades. I recall using them when I was a young child, and I think a few of the machines were still present at the Bluebonnet Library after I graduated from college. There are now more PCs in the library than there were before and the use of Dynix Cataloging System for front-facing cataloging may now have ended. The Bluebonnet Library was renovated in the '10's. Before the renovation of the library, Bluebonnet held in its possession a large triptych painting of a tropical rain forest which was signed "Pamela Schultz." This painting is no longer on public view at that library. When I visit Baton Rouge, I enquire into the status of that painting and others by this artist at the libraries. Other smaller Schulz paintings including portraits of tropical birds are present in administrative areas of the Main Library.

I first encountered online full-text periodicals at the Northwestern University Watson Library in Natchitoches, LA. I attended the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in '01-'03. The school did not have its own library so instead, we used the NSU university library. LSMSA is located on the NSU campus. In high school, when writing a paper I used primarily journal publications in book format which I found using the online cataloging system and also some full-text articles. However, it was a surprise to find a full-text article as it saved time from the old methodology. At the University of Chicago, I primarily used the Regenstein Library, a huge Brutalist structure. The University of Chicago Library has 6 locations on campus and 11 million volumes. 

When I was a student, the Mansueto Library, which features a large glass dome and a robotic storage facility containing 3.5 million volumes did not exist. Its future site was a tennis court. It is also adjacent to Henry Moore's sculpture Atomic Energy (1964–66), which commemorates and is located at the site of the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear reaction, Chicago Pile-1 on December 2, 1942. I also made extensive use of the Wren Library at the College of William & Mary. This library was constructed in 1996. William and Mary has an ancient campus with some buildings from the colonial period but many of the buildings were constructed in the post-WWII boom years, causing an illusion that one is traveling through time as one moves across the College. 

I also used the former Middleton Library at LSU. This library recently removed the name Middleton due to Troy H. Middleton's contributions to racism and segregation. Other LSU structures that are named after racists and segregationists that must be renamed include P.G.T. Beauregard Hall, David F. Boyd Hall, Murphy J. Foster Hall, George Mason Graham Tiger Tower, Andrew Jackson Hall, William Preston Johnston Hall, Edmund Kirby Smith Hall, Samuel H. Lockett Hall, Troy H. Middleton Library, James William Nicholson Hall, James William Nicholson Gateway Apartments, John M. Parker Coliseum, William C. Stubbs Hall, and Zachary Taylor Hall. You can read more about the effort to eradicate racism from the campus here.

I bring up the renaming of the libraries because it is an important part of the current effort to correct the historical record. Individuals who served or collaborated with the racist reactionary elements will no longer be celebrated in public spaces.