Education Policy, Business and Technology

Building a Digital Commons One Floor at a Time

Campus Technology: In April, the University of Louisiana Monroe's Library will celebrate its 20th anniversary. In library years, that's a long time. Called the "jewel of the bayou" when it first opened along a distinctive wetland, by 2019 the five-story structure definitely needed an update, if only because the way people learn has evolved. As Library Director Megan Lowe explained, back when her facility was built, libraries were "regarded as repositories of information; librarians were gatekeepers of information. Now we're more about facilitating access and supporting the learners, supporting the researcher. That takes a lot of different forms. Not just connecting reader to book anymore; it's connecting a user to resource or user to service, and therefore we have to change."

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