As they renovate old libraries and plan new ones, colleges consider the purpose of the buildings -- and how to make them popular.
Students study in a reading room in the new library at Ferris State U. Compared with Ferris State's old library, the new building attracts three times the number of visitors-- an average of 45,000 a month. (Photograph by Justin MacOncohie)

Commentary

Today's reference librarians need IT and pedagogical skills. Institutions are adapting in various ways, says W. Lee Hisle.

Fred D. White doesn't want stacks closed and mechanized. He wants to hold books in his hand and see where they take him.

The more his ALA colleagues declare their leftist views, the more David Durant feels left out.

A digital repository of books and articles is not the same as an academic library, says Steven J. Bell.

With their vivid aromas, colors, and textures, books in special collections reveal crumbs of information, and sometimes crumbs of biscuits too, write Richard W. Oram and Edward L. Bishop.

College librarians are neither Luddite dinosaurs nor technology-addicted futurists, writes Elizabeth Breakstone. They're excited and challenged by change, just like everyone else.