The Evolving Role of Community College Libraries

Offering digital resources and cultivating a healthy campus culture are just a few ways your academic library can enhance your education.

Community college libraries are a key part of the academic experience and always have been. There are few other places where you can access so much invaluable information for free, so naturally, students flock to them. However, the academic landscape has changed drastically in the past several years. Because of this, libraries have begun to change as well, evolving to fit the changing needs of students. Here’s how.

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Importance to the Academic Ecosystem

Campus libraries have always been integral to the community college academic ecosystem, but they’ve taken on even greater importance in recent years. Now, they provide educational resources to people in far more ways than ever before, allowing everyone to access the information they need. In addition, they’ve taken a much more active role in the campus culture as a whole, bringing people together as fellow academics and friends.

Going Digital

COVID-19 forced many libraries to go digital for safety reasons, but now that the pandemic has passed, community college libraries are continuing to digitize their catalogs. This allows students to enjoy a far greater degree of convenience and accessibility with the library’s academic resources, adapting their experience to their personal preferences. 

For example, a fully remote student won’t have to run all the way up to the campus to check out an important book, while an in-person student who prefers pen-and-paper studying can check out that same book at the physical library. This promotes a much more approachable academic environment where students can tailor their experience to their specific needs, making campus libraries all the more important as a part of that environment.

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Bringing the Campus Together

As mentioned earlier, libraries are heavily tied to campus culture, serving not just as places to study but also as places to connect with the rest of the community. With the pandemic behind us, libraries are becoming more and more open to hosting club meetings, collaborating with other faculty members to put on campus-wide events, and presenting other such opportunities for students to socialize. By encouraging students to meet other members of their academic community, libraries bring the community closer together, boosting morale and creating a better academic environment for all.

If you’d like to learn more about how campus libraries help students succeed, feel free to visit us at EveryLibrary today!

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

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This work by EveryLibrary is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0