ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


372/C&RL News

The W ay 

I See It

Point/counterpoint: The 
v a lu e  of place

By Frank R. Allen and Sarah Barbara Watstein

Two opposing views on what 
libraries should look and feel like

Point
By Frank R. Allen
I recently had occasion to visit one o f the new
style o f super bookstores in our city. As I en­
tered I was immediately struck by the retailer’s
deliberate effort to recreate the atmosphere o f
a private library. Oak finishes adorned the store. 
Quiet reading areas complete with overstuffed
seating, coffee tables, and throw rugs were stra­
tegically located throughout. Eighteenth-century
classical music wafted through the air. The at­
mosphere was delightful— warm, comforting, 
and inviting. Later, as I reentered our campus 
library and rounded the corner into the main
reference area, my eyes w ere immediately
greeted with banks o f electronic terminals, per­
sonal computers, CD-ROM players, and print­

Counterpoint
By Sarah Barbara Watstein
My colleague is troubled— technology and savvy
marketing have succeeded in blurring the 
boundaries among the new style o f super book­
stores, our libraries, computer labs, and com­
puter centers. He is concerned that our librar­
ies’ position as “the heart” o f our campuses is 
at risk. He cautions us to take heed from both 
the bookstore marketers and Saskia Sassen, and 
advises us to promote and develop the library
as “place” as w e strive to achieve information 
technology’s full potential. Finally, he reminds 
us that “every academic campus will continue 
to need an information epicenter,” and chal­
lenges us to “make sure” that our libraries are 
the information epicenters o f our campuses.

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

ers. I glanced over to my left at the instruction 
lab, complete with more PCs and computer- 
linked overhead projectors. Our library is proud 
to offer this array o f technology for our users, 
but for the most part the first impression one 
has coming o ff the street is o f a computer lab. 
What is going on here?

People v a lu e  place an d  pro xim ity
When contemplating this sharp comparison, I 
am reminded o f Saskia Sassen’s address at the 
7th National ACRL Conference last April. Sassen 
spoke about themes from her book, The Glo­
bal City (Princeton Univ. Pr., 1991), in which 
she points out the increasing tendency for com­
panies in certain industries to agglomerate. In 
this age o f high-speed worldwide communica­
tion links, she says, it would be entirely pos­
sible for firms in the financial services sector to 
locate their businesses spatially separated from 
each other. Why then is just the opposite hap­
pening? The downtown districts o f N ew  York

I understand my colleague’s points, how­
ever, I do not share his level o f concern. Nor 
do I feel a need to “rally round the flagpole” 
and “make sure” our libraries are the informa­
tion epicenters on our campuses. Will every  
academic campus continue to need an infor­
mation epicenter in the 21st century? I am not 
so sure. Should libraries strive to serve that func­
tion? I am not so sure that fulfilling that func­
tion is a realistic goal for any single organiza­
tion.

Place is ab o u t connection
So, “what is going on here?” What is going on 
here is that information technology is enabling 
our institutions and our organizations to tran­
scend traditional boundaries. The value o f place

 

 

Frank R. Allen is head o f Administrative Services f o r  University Library Services at Virginia Commonwealth 
University (VCU), e-mail: frallen@gems.vcu.edu; Sarah Barbara Watstein is interim director o f  University 
Computing Services-Academic Campus at VCU, e-mail: swatstei@felix.vcu.edu

mailto:frallen@gems.vcu.edu
mailto:swatstei@felix.vcu.edu


June 1996/373

(Allen cont.)
City, Tokyo, and London have emerged as su­
per-concentrated centers o f world financial 
trade in the last two decades. The paradox is 
heightened by the fact that the business o f fi­
nance— that is trading, lending, underwriting, 
insuring, and issuing— is the most liquid, trans­
portable process imaginable. Furthermore, this 
pattern o f agglomeration o f financial power is 
strikingly similar between the three cities, and 
is being replicated on a smaller scale in re­
gional economic centers across the globe. The 
phenomenon is not just a quirk o f one culture.

Why are these districts prospering and in 
such similarity to each other? Sassen cannot 
explain all o f it, but at a minimum, she says, 
w e as humans attach a high value to physical 
place and physical proximity. On a deeper level, 
she argues, the complexity o f financial services 
requires simultaneous participation o f special­
ized firms that are so interwoven that it is eco­
nomically advantageous for them to be located 
physically near each other.

Any thoughtful librarian hearing her address 
could not have failed to see the analogy: librar­
ies exist and can continue to prosper because 
people value place and proximity, and because

there is an economy and efficiency in agglom­
erating related functions and services in close 
physical proximity to one another. The mod­
em, full-service, academic library is actually an 
agglomeration o f related functions. As with the 
financial services industry, w e information pro­
fessionals don’t all do the same thing, but rather 
a series o f related interdependent functions.

The " p la ce-rooted infrastructure"
What can w e learn from these observations? 
First, let’s take a cue from the bookstore mar­
keters and strive to make our libraries places 
that are physically inviting and warm. While 
w e are upgrading for tomorrow let’s also keep 
investing in creature comforts such as comfort­
able seating, proper lighting, and aesthetically 
pleasing color arrangements. Let’s not create 
such sterile high-technology environments that 
w e unknowingly discourage our patrons from 
lingering or personally collaborating with one 
another.

Second, let’s continue to promote the library 
as the heart o f our campus. Let’s provide what 
Sassen calls the “place-rooted infrastructure”1 
for our campuses— that physical locale where 

(Allen cont. on page 383)

(Watstein cont.)
has not diminished. Nor has the fact that people 
value place and proximity changed. Informa­
tion tech n o lo gy has sim ply changed our 
conceptualization o f place and our understand­
ing o f proximity.

Reality isn’t what it used to be and virtuality 
isn’t here yet. But, plain and simple, place is 
not place is not place. Today, place is about 
connection. It is about access to all types o f 
information. Faster processing. Faster distribu­
tion. Today, place is defined both from, and in 
terms of, our desktops and workstations. Infor­
mation technology enables us to create place 
in several different ways. W e have the ability 
to access information whenever w e choose. W e 
have the ability to record, send, and receive 
information from virtually any location: a li­
brary, a classroom, a residence hall room, an 
office, even our homes. W e have the ability to 
retrieve everything and share it with others, or 
simply print it out ourselves, all from the most 
remote locations. Place is wherever w e are at 
any given moment, totally unrestricted by walls, 
service desk hours, and the prerequisite line at 
the copiers. Place is at our fingertips.

Similarly, our understanding o f proximity has 
evolved. Physical proximity may no longer be 
as important a definer o f proximity as intellec­
tual proximity. Today, proximity is about on­
line collaboration. It is about networked com­
munication. The ability to overcome distance 
and to create a community in every important 
sense— this is what proximity is about today, 
totally unrestricted by the idiosyncrasies o f 
physical locale.

I share my colleague’s observation that li­
braries exist because people value place and 
proximity. However, because information tech­
nology has enabled people to reframe their 
understanding o f both place and proximity, li­
braries that expect to continue to exist and pros­
per as w e move towards the millennium would 
do well to revisit that expectation. Take an­
other look at the computer labs and computer 
centers, at the desktops and workstations, at 
your campus. These are places in their own 
right, places which foster creativity and collabo­
ration, places that beckon our users with a range 
o f services and resources beyond our wildest 
dreams. Reason to be troubled, concerned, and 
cautious? I think not. Just the opposite! ■



374/C&RL News

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June 1996/383

books are seven dating from 1790 to 1833, 
including the woodboard-bound 1790 A 
Grammatical Institute o f  the English Lan­
guage and an 1827 Hale’s History o f the 
United States. Other valuable additions in­
clude a tum-of-the-century edition o f The 
Baby’s Opera by noted English illustrator 
Walter Crane, a first edition o f The Wiz­
a rd o f  Oz, and an 1866 e d itio n  o f 
Evangeline.

A  la rg e  co llectio n  of m o re th an  
3,000 books, magazines, and other mate­
rials relating to the downtown N ew  York 
writing scene from 1975 to the present 
has been acquired by the Fales Library o f 
N ew  York University. T o be known as the 
“Downtown Writers Collection,” the materials
were collected by Ron Kolm, a poet, editor, 
and member o f the downtown scene. The col­
lection includes signed first editions by such
authors as Kathy Acker, Lynne Tillman, Gary
Indiana, Walter Abish, Spalding Gray, Patrick
McGrath, and Harry Mathews. Also featured are
complete runs o f important literary magazines
o f the period, ‘zines, posters, flyers, catalogs o f
exhibitions, and announcements for readings, 
all o f which give a sense o f the arts scene dur­
ing the height o f the Soho and East Village writ­
ing explosion.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

The W ee, W ee Mannie and the Big, Big Coo fro m  My 
Bookhouse— In the Nursery (1925) at U o f  I-Urbana.

The p a p e r s  o f C a n a d ia n  c h ild r e n ’ s 
writer Carol Matas have been acquired by the 
University o f Manitoba Libraries. Matas’s book 
Lisa received both the Geoffrey Bilson Award 
for Historical Fiction for Young Readers and a 
Notable Book Award from the New York Times 
Book. Review. The collection includes handwrit­
ten and typed drafts and revisions o f her pub­
lished and unpublished novels, stories, and 
plays; correspondence to publishers, agents, 
and readers; and research notes and signed cop­
ies o f various editions o f her 14 published nov­
els. ■

(Allen cont. from  page 373) 
teaching, collaborating, and information trans­
fer all come together. For some universities this 
will continue to occur naturally. At other cam­
puses w e may need to work to maintain this 
presence. For one thing, w e can remind our 
campus administrators o f the wide array o f ser­
vices provided by libraries, which includes pro­
viding increasingly sophisticated user instruc­
tion (it is drastically easier to show patrons how 
to navigate electronic resources in person ver­
sus over the phone or through an e-mail re­
sponse), providing A/V labs for asynchronous 
lecture delivery, and providing study environ­
ments for students and discussion groups, just 
to name a few.

The hub of the cam pu s
Let’s also look for additional ways to bring us­
ers into the library to expose them to our ser­
vices. Our library houses the offices for the new 
campus universal I.D. card, named One-Card. 
Our library faculty had initially engaged in lively

discussion about the pros and cons o f placing 
this center in the building. In the end w e came 
to the realization that putting the office in the 
library would reinforce the concept o f the li­
brary being the hub o f campus. As it turns out, 
w e are able to refer students downstairs who 
have questions about the cards. W e now have 
an additional opportunity to promote library 
orientation sessions to students by placing stra­
tegically located signage in their paths as they 
come into the building for their I.D. cards.

The virtual library will certainly arrive and 
not a moment too soon for libraries that are 
bursting at the seams with print material col­
lections. But every academic campus will con­
tinue to need an information epicenter. Let’s 
make sure it’s the library.

Note
1. Sassen is quoted in Ellen K. Coughlin, 

“G lo b a l P ers p e c tiv e s  on the E c o n o m y ,” 
Chronicle o f  Higher Education 42 (January 12, 
1996): A8. ■