Z302 Business/SPEA Library

Dean Patricia SteeleIU Libraries

Information Commons

Successful because it offers choices

Old: “Build it and they will come.”

New: “Clear it out and they will come”

Wall Street Journal, “Libraries Beckon” Oct 21, 2006.

Services

Trend toward self-sufficiency

• Self-checkout• Online help (IM, e-mail)• E-Reserves

National context

• National surveys tell us our brand is books. (See OCLC report)

• Do we want that? Does that help us?

Gates Foundation to Fund Campaign

• This week: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced it will fund a national marketing campaign to increase awareness of the value of libraries

• $1.2 million grant

• Leo Burnett USA will partner

Campus Context

• Space report: 2004 university study reported that among the Big Ten, IUB is last in terms of space per FTE student.

• Report focus was research and creative space (including labs and faculty offices)

Space Squeeze• Pressures in one area squeeze another

• Example: Space in Business/SPEA library will soon be a classroom

As a result…

• Some campus libraries may close or be reconceived

• Last year we closed the SLIS library; we’re evaluating the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center to improve its services

Now is the time to rethink the role of libraries

This case is all about your needs as students.

Will you come to a different sort of library?

Do you come now?

To be successful, you should present a proposal that is:

• Realistic• Supported by evidence

What are other top business schools doing? Marketing research is important to us.

• Within the budget• Creative

Not an Option

• Because the library is not free-standing, it’s not feasible for it to be open 24 hours.

We want you to succeed• Very important for this campus

• Deans are interested, ready to act

• This is a great opportunity

• This is not just a class project – we’re relying on your good ideas to inform our decisions about the future of your library.