All 12 of UCLA’s libraries have something in common: they make for popular study spots on campus. It’s difficult to imagine Powell Library without envisioning rows of students hunched over table lamps in the reading room, or the stacks of Charles E. Young Research Library, or YRL, without the clatter of keyboards in the background. Looking back on the quarter, you’ve most likely been to a library on campus to finish up one last essay or toil over a problem set, but this whirlwind of a quarter system makes us forget just how robust our study spots truly are. With thousands of volumes gathering dust on unvisited shelves, we run the risk of taking libraries’ resources for granted, and with them, their relevance.
Prior social research into the national popularity of libraries has examined how effectively they are utilized as sources for physical books. Intuition indicates that with the rise of digital media consumption, young adults are more likely to choose e-books or watch a YouTube synopsis of a title rather than actually pick up a physical book. Surprisingly enough, a 2023 study from the American Library Association concluded that Generation Z audiences slightly outperform millennials in visiting physical libraries, with a preference for print books. Researchers Kathi Berens and Rachel Noorda reasoned that libraries serve as a large hub for sampling titles, providing visitors the same flexibility of choice as media consumption through streaming services does. Capturing students’ attention, then, is not an issue.
If a large selection of titles across broad content areas is all a library needs to garner community interest, one would anticipate UCLA’s library system to excel in this department. It is ranked 12th among national research libraries and holds over 9 million volumes, both digital and physical. According to UC Libraries’ 2022-2023 report, however, UCLA’s undergraduate student population only accounts for about 25% of the library’s total physical collection usage, with a similar metric for the graduate student population. What’s even more concerning is that this is a decline from 38% total usage in the 2021-2022 fiscal year for undergraduate students. Evidently, something has changed.
Possible reasons for this discrepancy might just point to limitations in students’ schedules. Depending on one’s major, performing well in one’s chosen 12 (or more) units is no small task. Since students are more likely to use the library as a space to fulfill their academic obligations, it’s no surprise they would be inclined to take a break from visiting it when these obligations have been met. Consequently, this leaves little time for leisure reading. It’s also possible that students prefer to read digital books, as evidenced by the fact that in 2022-2023, there was substantial viewership of items in the library system’s digital collections. Still, there are likely many existing titles that run the risk of obsolescence because they cannot be converted from a physical to digital format. Cultural classics, such as the “The Complete Works of Shakespeare” or a guide to Japanese Noh plays may be considered esoteric but have historical value nonetheless.
So how can we combat this decline in the circulation of physical books? Our focus must shift to using the library for enrichment as opposed to obligation alone. Many of our libraries have implemented restructured programs to work around the fluctuations of reading culture. These programs reinforce their presence as a cornerstone of campus culture.
Powell Library, for example, provides open access publishing consultations and personalized sessions with subject librarians to assist student researchers. UCLA offers an Interlibrary Loan service, where staff will search other libraries for any requested material that is not held by the UCLA Library system. All UCLA libraries also offer the UCLA Library Research Guide, an open catalog of subject guides and topical resources in over 20 subjects. This resource is open to non-researchers and can direct those interested in a particular subject to some supporting titles.
Additionally, we must find the time to actually use these resources once we have acknowledged them. The momentary lull between midterms or even the start of the quarter would be a perfect time to explore an area of knowledge outside the purview of our class assignments or exams.
Even though the expansive UCLA Library system is not fading into obscurity any time soon, it’s still important for students to make the most of it. Much like any other college experience, the shelves we walk past offer us the chance to experience new things, ranging from young-adult novels to guides on the physics of jazz music. So when you’ve finally submitted that essay, don’t ignore the stacks on your way out — what you find there may surprise you.
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Featured Image Photographed by Julia Gu/BruinLife
