First Person

Libraries: An Endangered Species?by Karin Wittenborg, University Librarian

Karin Wittenborg amid the bustle of Alderman Library photo by Peggy Harrison

When I became a librarian 30 years ago, I had only a glimmer of the radical changes, challenges and adventures I would encounter. A friend who had changed careers in his late forties steered me toward academic librarianship. As a librarian, he said, I would learn something new every day and would find working with students and faculty remarkably satisfying. He encouraged me to learn everything I could about computers and technology. I couldn’t have had wiser counsel.

Great research libraries are intellectual crossroads. They are places that bring people together with ideas and information to create new knowledge and to preserve it. Thomas Jefferson—a librarian at heart—knew this and placed the library in the Rotunda at the head of the Lawn and the heart of the University. Today, we have 15 buildings, more than 5 million books, and access to an infinite amount of digital content. On the surface, things are looking good.

However, libraries find themselves in a virtual maelstrom. Are we an endangered species? Who needs libraries when so much information is on the Web? Who needs books when we can download thousands of titles onto handheld devices or laptops? Just think of all the money and space universities could save … if it were that simple. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night excited about the progress we have made. We can deliver materials to students and faculty 24/7 on Grounds or anywhere in the world with a network connection. Other times, I wake up worrying about the challenges ahead. I know that libraries will thrive only if we exercise leadership, focus on our role in advancing scholarship, and act boldly and creatively.

Books have been around for more than 500 years and 175,000 titles were published in 2005 alone. Books will be with us for a very long time. Yes, someone will eventually make an e-book reader that will be as versatile, durable and as sensuously satisfying as a book. For now, I believe books still win the "Three Bs" contest hands down. You can read them in bed, in a bath, or on a bus. Even on a beach.

What about the library as a physical place in the digital age? Will they simply become warehouses for books? Not if I can help it. Great research libraries are magnets for people. Last year, the U.Va. Library had 2.4 million visitors. Compare that with 1.4 million visitors for the Library of Congress. Libraries are not only destinations for solitary study, but places to work together on projects, learn new technical skills, meet a faculty member over coffee, see an exhibit or simply take a nap.

We need to break new ground and reinvent libraries to meet the needs of current and future scholars. Excellence is no longer measured by the number of books a library holds. Now, it’s a matter of quickly connecting people with the information they need—wherever they are and in the format they want.

We are also reinventing libraries to serve the way scholars work today. Our staff must keep up with technology and anticipate what all our various clienteles will need—sometimes even before they know it. The good news is that we have lots of people to help us.

While some feel threatened by Google, the Open Content Alliance and other mass digitization projects, I am thrilled. Relatively little of the world’s scholarly and artistic output is freely available on the Web, but that will change fast as large-scale efforts to convert research library collections get under way. With the commercial and nonprofit sectors taking care of mass digitization, libraries can focus their resources on adding value to digital content and making sure it stays accessible to future generations. We can build tools to help scholars use digital information in new ways and to help them successfully navigate the glut of content.

It is not all good news, of course. Copyright and intellectual property laws have gone beyond the original intent of protecting creators for a reasonable length of time. Commercial interests are often at odds with the flow of information that is so essential to new knowledge and creativity. Personally, I am happy to see Disney make a fortune with Mickey Mouse. But new research findings need to find their way quickly and affordably into the public realm. "Orphaned works" whose copyright holders cannot be found are doomed to the twilight zone rather than enjoying a renaissance of interest and use. Fear of litigation, exorbitant permission costs and monopolistic control of information have a chilling effect on scholarship. Surely we can find a way to balance the rights of creators, publishers and consumers.

All this makes me realize that my friend who told me to get into librarianship so long ago was right. I love working with students and faculty and the constant challenge of leading an institution through massive technological change. I learn something new every day—and I can’t imagine a better time or place to be a librarian.

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