This common space that is a combination of classic reference, information, technology, and social atmosphere has been designed to meet the needs of all faculty and students in a central location (Harland, 2011). Pamela Harland (2011) described her high school’s transformation into a learning commons as going from a simple library to a workshop environment where students could access Kindles to download books, borrow high quality digital cameras for recording video and taking pictures, type papers, research for projects and papers, receive help from librarians and technological staff, and just socialize.
Harland (2011) suggested that changes can be simple at first. In her library’s transformation, allowing students to rearrange furniture to suit their needs, making supplies like glue sticks and scissors more accessible, removing the barrier-like checkout desk and replacing it with a friendlier kiosk made immense impacts on student usage of the space
Harland’s (2011) experience is not unique in the fact that many universities and community colleges, like Plymouth State University’s Lamson Library which Harland toured prior to embarking on her own library’s transformation, began to make the switch
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The spaces that have been dedicated to quiet research are being transformed into social locations that promote inclusiveness, group work, and exploration with students learning in a much more social environment (Becker, 2012). These spaces becoming known as learning commons need to include much more than references and must be formatted to fit the students’ learning needs in order to promote student usage and a true center for learning and a central commons for students to socialize (Kompar,