Academic Library Visit: the James Branch Cabell Library
22 September 2023
[James Branch Cabell Library exterior at night]. (n.d.). CC BY-NC-SA.
For my academic library visit, I returned to a building that practically served as my second home in undergrad: the James Branch Cabell Library, located in the center of Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Monroe Park campus, both situated in the heart of Richmond, Virginia. Visiting a library I’ve already spent countless hours in might seem too obvious a retread of familiar ground, but most of that time was spent engaging with a minor selections of services compared to the full extent of Cabell’s offerings. Thus, the point of my visit: to get a better sense of everything I might have missed during my time there.
Space
Depending on one’s location relative to the building, the Cabell Library, originally built in 1970, might appear an enormous mass of concrete. Since the completion of its remodel and expansion in 2016 (VCU Libraries, n.d.-b), however, the sleek, unbroken spread of windows above its main entrance possesses a modern flair that draws in an onlooker more than any of the older brick buildings surrounding it. This modernity is further displayed in its lobby, which manages to make the stony sophistication feel almost like an open pavilion, with wood paneling lining the stairs to the second floor and plenty of natural light filtering in from outside. Of course, outside of their initial tours, most students will filter out the splendor as they search for the space and services they need to complete their coursework. And they have ample amounts of both available to them. Now that the library landscape has become so thoroughly digitized, academic libraries have become “less a repository of information and more a learning space—a space for collaboration, group work, and the provision of complementary services designed to impact learning and promote student success” (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, pg 137).
[James Branch Cabell Library 2nd floor]. (n.d.). CC BY-NC-SA.
The Cabell Library is the epitome of this paradigm shift, boasting an auditorium’s worth of seating and workspaces in a wide variety of materials and accommodations, quieter mandates and more specialized services the higher one ascends, over 60 reservable study rooms across all aboveground floors, and more besides. No matter how heavy the foot traffic late into the semester, any student or group of students can likely to find a space that fits their needs.
Also, while actually taking in the layout during visit, something odd that I noticed is that there aren’t a lot of signs providing direction to specific locations. Thanks to the design, it seems like they might not be as necessary. Even on upper floors, the spread of the relatively short-standing furniture creates sightlines that are clear enough outside the stacks for one’s destination to be visible from far away. This does, however, become an issue when someone is searching for, say, one of the classrooms located deep into a floor or a study room that was part of an older section of the library.
Service
As to be expected from a university offering 200 programs across a myriad of disciplines, the Cabell Library provides a diverse array of services to its students. Many of these are mediated through VCU Libraries’ robust arsenal of technology. Windows desktop computers with office, image editing, video conferencing, and other types software installed are available on most floors. Printing and copying are available on every floor of the library; scanning, while not as widespread throughout the building, make up for it by offering both flatbed and overhead book scanners. Most in line with Cabell’s modern image is the Workshop: a multimedia makerspace located in the lower level of the library, equipped with specialized workstations for digital audiovisual projects, 3D printers, recording and VR studios, and all kinds of creative-facilitative equipment, some available for borrowing from the premises (VCU Libraries, n.d.-c).
As for physical collections, VCU’s selection of physical materials is similarly extensive, at over 2 million items as of 2021 (VCU Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support, 2021)—yet sees significantly less use than other offerings. The main collection is spread across the first, third, and fourth levels, organized by (what I think is VCU’s own?) the Library of Congress subject classification ("What's new at VCU Libraries this fall", 2015), then Dewey Decimal Number. Of course, the physical collection isn’t limited to just conventional books either—magazines, government documents, physical journal issues, music scores, and microfilms are available as well. The Special Collections and Archive headquartered on the fourth floor is sizable as well, preserving rare volumes, manuscripts, and art from all kinds of mediums including books, comics, gallery pieces, and more.
People
In terms of staff, the Cabell Library’s seems to hew closely to that typical of libraries: primarily White women and men staffing the reference desks along with a smattering of minorities; while Richmond locals, mostly from the city’s significant Black population, performed service and security work.1 For reference, in 2021, White people made up 70.13% of VCU’s teaching and research faculty, including librarians classified as such; while White students were in the minority at 44.6% (VCU Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support, 2021).
The volume of interaction between patrons and staff seemed rather sparse, though the ratio of front-facing librarians readily available for students to consult with is overwhelmingly in favor of the students. Given the option to contact library staff through live chat or email or other options, and the fact that every student has the tools to chart a specific path to the resources they need through VCU Libraries’ digital services, that may be expected.
Info
Wilson, J. (2023). VCU Libraries homepage [Screenshot]. CC BY-NC-SA.
Upon an initial glimpse, VCU Libraries’ website might appear ill-suited for its intended function, with featured articles and photos dominating more than half the screen, and dropdown menus filled with dozens of menu items. Once they’ve acquainted themselves with how the library fits into their academic life, any experienced student will quickly learn to disregard these features for everything above the spread.
From the header navigation in the top left to the main search bar, everything is arranged so that students can (somewhat) easily find the service they’re looking for. While library websites tend to divide their main navigation into several menu items, the VCU Library website organizes theirs into just four categories, with more than a dozen items in each section. While this allows more topics to be grouped under wider umbrellas, this could present a challenge for someone with impaired vision to navigate. Even as someone sighted while wearing glasses, when I tried to find instructions for printing from my laptop, I overlooked the “Print, scan, and copy” in the “Spaces and Technology” section, and restored to web searching “cabell library print” instead.
Of course, since I’m no longer a current VCU student, I was unable to print anything from my personal devices. Below the navbar is likely the target of a large portion of any website’s traffic: the search bar, allowing users to search through VCU’s vast selection of journals, databases, and physical and digital collections, all from a single location. However, while non-students and other unaffiliated persons can browse VCU’s collection, they cannot actually view or otherwise interact with the overwhelming majority of items. This limitation is a recurring wrinkle for VCU Libraries—their vast collection is only really intended to be used by their student body, and specifically their massive undergraduate student body.
1 ^There was a sign displaying some of the research specialists available for consutation demonstrating this paradigm, but I forgot to take a picture of it—though it was on the other side of the limited access grad student center's glass wall, anyway.
References
[James Branch Cabell Library exterior at night]. (n.d.). CC BY-NC-SA. https://www.library.vcu.edu/spaces-tech/james-branch-cabell-library/
[James Branch Cabell Library 2nd floor]. (n.d.). CC BY-NC-SA. https://www.library.vcu.edu/spaces-tech/library-spaces/
Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). American Library Association.
VCU Libraries. (n.d.-a). Computers and equipment. https://www.library.vcu.edu/spaces-tech/computing/
VCU Libraries (n.d.-b). James Branch Cabell Library background and history. https://www.library.vcu.edu/about/history/cabell/
VCU Libraries. (n.d.-c) The Workshop. https://www.library.vcu.edu/spaces-tech/the-workshop/
VCU Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support. (2021). VCU Fact Card 2020-21. Retrieved from https://irds.vcu.edu/media/decision-support/pdf/fact-cards/FinalADAweb2-10-21.pdf
What's new at VCU Libraries this fall? More speakers, more materials, more space. (2015, September 3). VCU Libraries News. Retrieved October 30, 2023, from https://www.library.vcu.edu/about/news/2015-news/whats-new-at-vcu-libraries-this-fall-more-speakers-more-materials-more-space.html
Wilson, J. (2023). VCU Libraries homepage [Screenshot]. CC BY-NC-SA.