How times have changed! It wasn’t so long ago that food was prohibited in Milner Library and silence was enforced. I frequently talk with alumni who, after a long absence, are surprised by the changes: a coffee shop on the main floor of the library! And students encouraged to talk as they work in groups! This is certainly not the Milner Library that inhabited Williams Hall on the Quad until 1976.
Libraries are definitely changing…and rapidly. We live and work in a world far different than the one that existed in 1976, or even in the early 1990s when Milner began exploring the internet. While the Library continues to provide access to print books and journals and quiet study spaces, we are also adapting to the many new ways that students and faculty use library resources, services, and spaces.
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- The Reading Room in Milner Library, located in Williams Hall in 1961.
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- Circulation staff member and students stand around Milner Library’s first online catalog, which was networked to other academic libraries in April 1980.
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- Fred Peterson, then Dean of Milner Library, speaks in front of space to become computer lab in 1991.
By changing with the changing times, Milner Library remains critical for student learning and faculty research. In addition to its historic role in guiding the University community to needed information, Milner Library is fast becoming a campus center for collaboration and knowledge creation. For instance, Milner will soon install a state-of-the-art classroom that emphasizes group learning. And in consultation with the campus community, we are developing a multimedia lab that incorporates 3D printers and other technologies that permit students and faculty to generate new products and forms of knowledge.
While silence is no longer enforced as it once was in old Milner, we continue to support a variety of learning preferences. We remain keenly aware that members of the campus community hold different and sometimes incongruous expectations about noise. Along these lines, we are currently working in both directions–to make some quiet spaces quieter, and some collaborative spaces more collaborative. On one hand, we are adding sound-proofing to the designated quiet floor, while on the other we are installing whiteboard dividers, electrical outlets and furniture more suitable for group work.
Moving forward, we will continue to reach out and talk with faculty, students, and the broader University community about future needs for library and information services, resources, and technologies. In the near future, we will announce details about a day-long symposium on the changing nature of academic libraries. The event, scheduled during National Library Week in April, will feature Joan Lippincott, the Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information. Lippincott speaks regularly on the topic of libraries in the 21st century and their integral relationship to their colleges and universities.
Stay well and stay connected. Feel free to contact me with any thoughts or questions you might have about Milner Library. I appreciate hearing from members of our Illinois State University community.
Dane Ward
Dean, Milner Library
dmward@ilstu.edu
