The Story of the Library
UC Merced Library
The UC Merced Library motto, “Not what other research libraries are . . . what they will be,” sums up an ambitious, if not outright audacious goal: to create the template for the research library of the Twenty-First Century. As envisioned by Founding University Librarian Bruce Miller and the staff of the Library, being a Twenty-First Century research library does not mean jumping on the latest technology bandwagon or simply branding UC Merced Library as “the virtual library.” Instead, the vision requires going back to the basic principles of librarianship—connecting readers with books, information seekers with information—and then making these connections in the most efficient and cost-effective way, whether this means using the technology of online information, purchasing a printed book, or borrowing a printed book from among the 34 million volumes owned by the combined libraries of the ten University of California campuses which comprise, in the aggregate, the largest research library in the Western Hemisphere and, by some measures, the entire world.
Although it is still early in the game, thus far the UC Merced Library has been able to achieve its goals while relying on a skeleton staff, a relatively small collections budget, and the luxury of being able to call on the vast information resources of the University of California Library System. For example, on the day the UC Merced Library opened, some 30,000 cataloged and processed books sat on the shelves; the considerable work involved in doing this was carried out by one librarian and one library assistant. Similarly, the Library’s busy interlibrary loan operation is run by one library assistant plus a few student employees; the Library’s in-house information technology department is one library assistant plus a few student employees.
Providing print and online collections is one way in which the UC Merced Library supports the teaching and research needs of UC Merced. Just as important are the instructional and research-assistance services provided by the Library. In its first year of existence, librarian instructors taught 66 instruction session that involved over 1400 members of the UC Merced community. UC Merced librarians frequently provide individual research assistance to students, faculty, and staff via email, Web pages, text messaging, chat services, and face-to-face consultations. While the Library’s ultimate aim is to provide access to information that is so intuitive that no instruction or assistance will be needed, until that time the Library will provide accessible human instructors and guides to help our users negotiate the vast universe of information resources.
An important part of the Library’s vision is the development of digital special collections with an emphasis on overlooked collections of importance to the Central Valley. Instead of purchasing physical objects to go into a limited-access special-collections room, this initiative uses the Library’s command of technology along with its intellectual capital to lawfully digitize information resources that do not necessarily belong to the Library, organize the digitized resource into searchable collections, and them make them freely available to the entire world via the World Wide Web. For one example of this vision turned to reality, the Library used a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to create hundreds of digitized images of unique works of Japanese art belonging to the Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center in Hanford, California. High quality images of these artworks, enhanced with searchable metadata, are (or will soon be) available to anyone with an internet connection.
Although the UC Merced Library is heavily invested in the ephemeral realm on online information, the role of the library as physical space has not been abandoned in the least. The physical UC Merced Library is located in the Kolligian Library building, principally on the second-through-fourth floors of the building’s East Wing as well as on the first-through-fourth floors of the “Lantern,” the architecturally distinctive core of the Kolligian Library building. UC Merced Library sees the physical library of the Twenty-First Century as a space that must be flexible enough to serve a variety of emerging, somewhat unpredictable needs while continuing to provide the kinds of spaces libraries have provided for years, primarily spaces to hold books and spaces for quiet study.
In some ways, contemporary library space is analogous to public lands. On public lands some people want to mine, some raise cattle, some ride off-road motorbikes, and some backpack in a roadless wilderness. In the library, some people want to socialize, some participate in group study, some hold club meetings, and some study in total silence. On both public lands and inside libraries everyone cannot do everything in the same place, but managers of lands and libraries can judiciously designate certain areas for certain uses with the goal of meeting the needs of as many people as possible.
Thus when you enter the first floor (the Ed
and Jeanne Kashian Floor) of the Kolligian Library Lantern,
the ambiance is more student union than library. There is noise,
socializing, snacking, sleeping, and even some studying—all
going on all at once. As you move up to the second floor of the
Lantern, the building begins to look more like a traditional library.
There is a service desk where students check out books or, just as
often, laptop computers. Entering the second floor of the East Wing,
you see bookstacks, traditional library tables, clusters of soft
seating, and group study rooms. 
Because there is both wireless and
wired network access throughout the building, you will see students
scattered about using laptop computers (either their own or checked out
from the Library) and studying individually or in small groups. The
popular group study rooms have comfortable office-style furniture,
whiteboards, and are intended to be equipped with large-screen
displays. By plugging a laptop into a large-screen display, a group of
students can easily collaborate on course-related projects. The third
and fourth floors of the East Wing are very similar to the second
floor, though the floors tend to be quieter the higher up you go. The
third floor of the Lantern is home to an informal reading room
furnished mostly with soft seating and enhanced by great views in three
directions. This reading room is supplied with approximately 100
popular magazines intended for recreational reading. The fourth floor
of the Lantern is home to the McFadden-Willis Reading Room, a very
traditional, almost clubby library reading room that is a refuge of
silence and contemplation on the UC Merced campus.
Only the passage of time will tell the extent to which UC Merced Library achieved its goal of leading research libraries into the new century. It is likely that the record will be one of success mixed with failure, as predicting the future is difficult game at best. Still, is seems only right that the library of the first research university of the Twenty-First Century should start with its eye on the future instead of on the past.
Library Photographs
View pictures of the Library spaces via this short video. (<1 minute)
News Article
"First LEED-certified campus naturally puts users first"
A customer story on the University of California, Merced by Steelcase Inc. View the PDF for the complete story with photographs.
Special Friends
Read more on those individuals who have been influential in shaping the Kolligian Library.