Loyola's Information Commons: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

I'm going to be honest.  I think that the concept of the Information Commons is a cool idea.  By definition, an information commons can be classified by any information system that exists to produce, preserve, and allow access to information.  Neat.  Now, then that means a traditional library, by definition, is an information commons, right?  Definitely.  Ok, awesome.  Is the opposite therefore true as well?  Is an information commons a library?  This answer is more complicated: not necessarily.

To me, libraries, while homes to information, derive their significance from the physical collection of books, manuscripts, newspapers, or any other print material.  An information commons does not have to have physical books in order to fulfill its purpose.  To state clearly, then... An information commons that does not house traditional library materials, cannot therefore be qualified as a library.

I spent the last two years studying at Loyola University Chicago's Lakeshore campus.  From day one, the thing that bothered me about Loyola (other than the fact that the student rec center was ALWAYS under construction) was that school administrators attempted to pass the Richard J. Klarchek Information Commons off as a library.  The Richard J. Klarchek Information Commons, better known as simply "the IC" on campus, is not a library.  However, the school has tied the IC to the library-which does make sense-while increasingly touting its importance over the library-not ok.

When the IC was finished in 2005, Loyola made several changes.  The most interesting move is that they closed the doors to Elizabeth M. Cudahy Memorial Library.  No joke.  The IC connects to the library in the shape of an upside down "L" with a cafe in the corner between the two buildings.  In order to increase student use of the new facility when it was created, school administrators decided to lock the doors of Cudahy Library to "encourage" (read: force) students to use the IC.  So, in order to get to the circulation desk, at the most northwest point of the library (and RIGHT NEXT TO the old library doors so that the circulation librarian could keep an eye on the doors), one must enter through the IC, walk through the entire IC, Connections Cafe, and the length of the library.  This is highly cumbersome, annoying, and plain silly.  Thanks to social media platforms, twitter specifically, students have voiced their opinion through the hashtag "open the doors."

The other interesting, and frankly ridiculous, decision the administration made was to move the reference librarian's offices to the Information Commons.  Let's back up for a second here.  What exactly makes up the IC?  The IC has hundreds of computers spread out across the first, second, and third floors.  Floors two and three are lined with group study rooms on the north and south sides of the building.  The attempt- and success- of this building is to be able to access and share information among the community of Loyola students.  What the IC does not have, however, is books.  Why in the world would a reference librarian's main offices be located in an area where there are no physical library resources?  This decision separates the librarian from his resources, and the people who would use them, whom he is hired to assist.

Ultimately, the goal Loyola had with the IC was to foster a greater sense of community within Loyola's student body through a central location where they can study.  The side effect of this, however, is that by attempting to increase the use and importance of the Information Commons, Loyola is decreasing the importance of the library that has been an integral part of the university since its inception in 1870.  While information commons might have non-physical library resources, libraries are special places that house, preserve, and make accessible physical information resources.  In conclusion, then, a library is an information commons, but an information commons is not necessarily a library.  Both have their strengths and their weaknesses, but Loyola's administration will not be able to foster a greater sense of community within its student body through an attempt to build up one information space while breaking down and decreasing the importance of another.