A 120,000 sq. ft. Milestone: Seattle University brings "social learning" to new library

In the early years of this decade, academic librarians across the country heard book stacks, study carrels, and reading rooms grow ever more quiet, and it wasn't because they were shushing the patrons. Packing up their laptops and their friends, students made off for the new bookstores and cafés that offered better ambience, comfortable seats, caffeine, and free WiFi. This condition came to be called "the emptying of the academic library." At Seattle University, we knew our role as a university on the rise required we make the most of this generational sea change and incorporate it in the education of our students.