Where You and I Are Going to Spend the Rest of Our Lives: What a Future Library Looks like When There Is No There... There.

Academic libraries have long envisioned a future where new services and functions are added to our existing structure of student and collection space. However, our future might be more driven not by what we gain, but by what we lose. In this presentation, a library that went through a massive change learned more quickly about the “library of the future” when they lost both student and collection space during a massive construction project. This presentation will share how the staff at this library adapted from a full service library to an information service unit; the service model of an “ethereal library;” and how they grew within this much smaller footprint. We will showcase how this library was able to retain its library services, its staff and its connection with the academic community at the school.