Promoting Libraries Through Inclusive and Impactful Environments

Abstract

In the movie Field of Dreams (1989), Kevin Costner’s character hears the phrase “If you build it, he will come” whispered to him in a cornfield in Iowa. The phrase refers to the character Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball greats from the early 20th century coming back from the dead to play all. In much the same way, if libraries “build it,” the people will come. The academic library of today is not the academic library of the past. These differences hinge on population, staffing, community, and shifts in vision.