I like the ideas of mobility and offering applications for them to use to extend services beyond the multi-walled library. But I also believe that the library is still that quiet sanctuary of study.

Sure, you can offer breakout rooms for collaboration. But what about the opportunity to be a place of silence. A place without cell phone interruptions or even texting.

I remember the university I attended (Abilene Christian University) having quiet rooms in the middle of buildings for quiet reflection time. Each room was completely silent with a real stillness to them that was almost palpable.

The one sound you could hear in the room was the fountain hidden in the cluster of quiet. It was amazing how the silence in the room allowed for quiet meditation, prayer, reflection, or filling out one of the journals left in each room. The journals allowed you to anonymously post your own prayers, poetry, or even a rant.

I think libraries need to look at enabling an area for quiet and being still. Everywhere else, we are bombarded with information and decision-making. Everywhere else there is sound and banter and people asking us for things.
In quiet, there is just you.