ARLIS/NA 45th Annual Conference

This panel will cover a range of new challenges in art and academic libraries today as management and the services we provide are collapsed, expanded, and re-imagined in a multitude of ways. We are all finding ways to reinvent our libraries and keep them relevant, whether those changes come from within the organization or are result of a grant or a mandate from the outside. In a time of dwindling resources for many institutions, libraries need to adapt to ever-changing trends in higher education.   

Rachel Resnik will discuss her library’s recent transition from a traditional director-led library to a team-managed organization with a rotating chair at the helm. She will explain the impetus for the change, how the library is adapting, and will attempt to identify the challenges she foresees encountering as they move forward.

Rachel Beckwith will talk about the progress of the Hampshire College Library’s mellon grant to develop a knowledge commons.   Their goal is to bring together service partners, such as the Writing Center, Transformative Speaking Center, and Student Support and Advising, within the integrated space of the Harold F. Johnson Library in order to make the student experience more seamless and to discover different connections and intersections that new adjacencies afford.