Missouri and Kansas: “University Libraries Move Toward Workspaces, Digital Collections”

From The Joplin Globe:

As other college and university libraries shed print materials to make room for more modern amenities, the George A. Spiva Library at Missouri Southern State University has plenty of space, thanks to a 2001 expansion.
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“Those resources don’t require a lot of space, so we’re putting more financial resources into electronic access and investing less into physical items,” said [James] Capeci, director of the MSSU library. “Not because we don’t like them, but students love technology and want electronic access to resources 24/7.”
That trend can also be seen at Pittsburg State University, where this month a ceremony will be held to commemorate the completion of a third-floor renovation project inside the Leonard H. Axe Library.
The $1.1 million project remodeled about 11,000 square feet to add about 170 seats in a combination of library tables, alcoves and rooms. To make room for the expansion, collections of bound periodicals and a repository of government documents were moved. The government documents were sent to the University of Kansas.

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