Browsing in the Digital World

Got caught up in this article through American Libraries, in which Donald Barclay neatly explodes the 'myth' of serendipitous browsing in the academic library. This issue is important because of increasing space pressures and how many libraries are decreasing shelf space in favor of 'study space' -- incurring the wrath of faculty who cry foul at collections being moved off-site.

But as Barclay points out, not only is physical browsing not part of an ancient scholarly tradition (prior to WWII, academic library stacks were mostly closed), it is also pretty darn inefficient. Especially compared to the new searching platforms online that let you tag, link, and organize multiple ways -- echoes of David Weinberger's 'miscellaneous' theory here, because you don't have the physical limits of a book being in only one 'place.'

So while I can understand the immediate reaction against the thought of 'taking books off the shelves,' I cab agree with Barclay here - shifting collections in some cases can actually make the materials more accessible (as counterintuitive as that may seem). And in my own experience, I've found that most undergrads are searching via their laptops and phones instead of their fingers...

But please let's not get carried away here. This solution is not for all libraries or even for most of the collection. I've browsed shelves as recently as last week, and there is still something to be said for having books on the shelves, ready to be plucked and skimmed. We are highly visual and tactile creatures, after all. So until we can make the 'digital' browsing model as natural and easy as physical browsing (or more so) -- let's keep some of those books on our shelves.