NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 22 number 1 - Fall 2001
A Research Library of t he Future for NC State
By Peggy Hoon, Scholarly Communication
North Carolina State University faces the challenges of an aging and crowded
main library facility at the D. H. Hill Library that is inadequate for meeting
the future information and space needs of its students and faculty. At the
same time, the university must be prepared to support the needs of a growing
user population on the Centennial Campus, especially for its engineering faculty
and a projected increase in its student enrollment of more than 6,000 students
the next decade. To meet these challenges in an efficient and enlightened
of its primary user communities and provide a forum for discussion and exploration
of the research library of the future.
This past spring, the library hosted two brown-bag lunches and panel discussions
on the "Research Library of the Future." The first panel discussion,
held February 8, 2001, focused on the needs of the university's library users.
The panelists, representing faculty, students, and staff, were Hugh Devine
(Natural Resources), Lynda Aiman-Smith (Management), Rebecca Cowles-Swanson
(Distance Education Administrative Services), Randall Thompson (Graduate Student,
Veterinary Medicine), and Carolyn Argentati (NCSU Libraries) as panel respondent.
Karl Bowman (Veterinary Medicine), chair of the University Library Committee,
served as moderator.
The second panel discussion, held April 2, 2001, addressed the needs of different
academic disciplines as reflected in the composition of the NC State community.
The representative panelists were Christopher Gould (Physics), Michael Hyman
(Microbiology), Bob Janka (Graduate Student, Management), Brad Mehlenbacher
(English), Amanda Myers (Undergraduate Student, Communication), Sarah Rajala
(Engineering), James Wilson (Industrial Engineering), and Argentati as panel
respondent. Joseph Herkert (Multidisciplinary Studies), chair of the Scholarly
Communication Subcommittee, served as moderator. The discussion covered such
topics as discipline-specific library services, the role of the librarian,
the composition of the collection in terms of specific disciplines, and library
services on Centennial Campus.
Plans for an additional panel discussion during the fall 2001 semester are
being developed. This panel will address the physical facilities of the library
of the future. The goal of all three panel discussions is to provide an opportunity
for NC State's library users to voice their vision of what kind of library--including
services, collections, and physical environment--they would like to have in
the future. Ideas from the seminars will culminate in a spring 2003 colloquium
on "The Research Library of the Future." Further information on these
upcoming events will be forthcoming. Please plan to join the library for these
important and interesting discussions.
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