What’s Next For The Karl Mundt Library
In a world of rapidly evolving digital media, one might have expected physical repositories, like libraries for example, to simply fall by the wayside in lieu of more modern equivalents. Many however, including Dakota State’s very own Karl E. Mundt Library, have done a marvelous job of keeping up with the times, offering a multitude of resources, such as video game rentals and study and activity areas.
“We just keep kind of plugging away on what people kind of need and want from the physical space of the library” Dr. Mary Francis, the library’s director informed me. “One of the things we’ve seen that students really like is the new study-pods upstairs, they’re used all the time, people like having that quiet space.”
I sat down with Mary on Friday to discuss what some of the plans for the future of the library hold, and she explained to me how they’re keeping up with the times. She told me that they’ve had a variety of renovation plans in the works for quite some time.
“The first start was when the Mad Labs was going to be built” Mary recalled. Lowry hall, which was demolished for the Mad Labs to be constructed in its place, was the home of IT Services at the time. When it was torn down, the IT office was moved onto the first floor of the library, where it resides today. “Then the thought was, y’know, with them going there, how else can we refresh the rest of the library.”
“That was around 2017,” Mary continued, “and that’s when we really started having those discussions, seeing what the future of library spaces are. Especially at DSU, we’re not necessarily book heavy, but we’re providing the resources for the majors that we have.”
The college’s general plan for the remodel is to open up the the second level, and transform it into a collaborative activity space of sorts. It would also involve moving the libraries physical collection of books to the lower level.
“One reason that’s nice is… upstairs is really where the light is in the library, because that’s where we have all the windows. We’d like to have the space up there to work together, do collaborative things, have more flexible seating, whiteboards, things like that.” This would make the upstairs into more of a busy, collaborative group space, and reserve the basement for a quieter, more isolated space.
She concluded by explaining to me that the beauty of a library is that no two will ever be the same, as the duty of a library and its staff is to adapt to the community that they service.
