(3) [Libraries] are hubs designed for social and educational interactivity, adaptable to the times and the surrounding culture. One such example of this revision process with libraries is the renovation of Ohio State University’s Thompson Library, where key elements (“coherence, legibility, complexity, and mystery”) were emphasized in order to create a space that was relevant and stimulating.
This does not mean that desired changes must be limited to just technological expansion. As the renovation of the Thompson Library shows, the scope can be more intimate. For instance, libraries now represent synergistic centers for students and members of the community, places for both groups to share stories and to reveal unique similarities that otherwise would remain undiscovered.
Such a place would prove to be extraordinarily vital for a university’s preservation of historical documentation as well as its communal, interactive pulse.