University librarian Karen Schmidt explains the #AmesAdvantage in this recent article from The Pantagraph!
“Pointing to an area outside of her first floor office in Ames Library, IWU librarian Karen Schmidt said, “When I came here 11 years ago, shelves were filled, end to end, with unbound periodicals.” Now, she noted, only a small area is devoted to printed periodicals.
But despite how libraries have changed, Schmidt said, “At the end of the day, it’s still about critical thinking, finding good resources and helping students become part of the scholarly conversation.”
One thing that’s been lost to some degree with the increasing use of digital rather than printed materials is what’s sometimes called “serendipitous discovery” — material randomly stumbled across while searching through stacks of books or an old-fashioned card catalog.
For example, Schmidt said, when a student picked up a printed journal for a particular article, they might find related, helpful material in the same journal. In the digital age, they just get the article requested.”
What’s your favorite aspect of The Ames Library?
Photo by Crystal Boyce.