State of the Library with Lee Van Orsdel and Kristin Meyer, Grand Valley State University

Lee Van Orsdel, Former Dean of Libraries, and Kristin Meyer, User Experience Librarian talk with host Tod Stevens about the Mary Idema Pew Library. Built in 2013, the library was designed to give students a range of environments, from noisy to quiet; practice a new skill or play with a new idea; engage easily with each other in spaces engineered to accommodate the sounds of natural conversation, or curl up by the fireplace in a contemplative space with the best views on campus.

Lee, Kristin, and Tod discuss how libraries are like malls, talk about user experience and permissions culture, and the importance of an adaptable service model.


Learn more about the Mary Idema Pew Library by checking out these resources:

Meyer, K., & Fisher, E. S. (2017). Designed to meet our institutional mission. In S. Montgomery (Ed.), Assessing library spaces for learning (pp. 73-82). Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_books/16/

O’Kelly, M., Scott-Webber, L., Garrison, J., & Meyer, K. (2017). Can a library building’s design cue new behaviors? A case study. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 17(4), 843-862. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/672187/pdf