Visions of Success: Academic Libraries in a Post COVID-19 World

Visions of Success: Academic Libraries in a Post COVID-19 World

by..Christopher Cox and Elliot Felix


Academic libraries have been undergoing transformation. In response to student and faculty needs, libraries have moved from physical spaces valued for their collections and research support to full-service research and student success hubs. COVID-19 has both accelerated these changes and, in some cases, upended them. The pandemic has resulted in increased use of, and reliance on, digital collections, and more interest in self-service and online programming. The in-person reference interview and the learning commons as a physical one stop shop are on hiatus, though the need for those services remains.

How will COVID-19 change how libraries offer their collections and services in the long term? How will it change the nature of our work? This article provides a vision of the future in which libraries become true connectors of people and catalysts for discovery.

To see into the future of libraries, we imagine real-world scenarios of them in use, expanding their roles as centers of student success; making archival materials, research assistance, and programming more accessible; and foregrounding collaboration between students, faculty, and librarians.

  1. VISION #1: LIBRARY AS PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL STUDENT SUCCESS HUB
  2. VISION #2: HYBRID PROGRAMMING AND SERVICES
  3. VISION #3: SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES GO DIGITAL-FIRST
  4. VISION #4: COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY
  5. VISION #5: LIBRARY SPACE AS A NETWORK
  6. VISION #6: NEW WAYS OF WORKING

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