{"id":14545,"date":"2026-05-29T10:08:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=14545"},"modified":"2026-05-29T10:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:10:08","slug":"if-you-dont-know-go-to-the-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2026\/05\/29\/if-you-dont-know-go-to-the-library\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018If you don\u2019t know, go to the library\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
Librarian Tanya Gunkel<\/b> retrieves an item from \u201cJean,\u201d Lindell Library\u2019s smart locker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are times when I ask a class what they think a librarian does,\u201d says Tanya Gunkel<\/strong>, one of Augsburg University\u2019s outreach and instruction librarians. \u201cAt that point, direct eye contact drops, and someone will mumble quietly, \u2018 \u2026 books?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She laughs. \u201cBooks are definitely part of it, but we see our job as helping students build lifelong skills that they can use at any job: how to find good information. Our goal is for students to know that they can come here any time, to say \u2018I can see myself here.\u2019 We want them to feel like this library is theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting in the common area on the first floor of Lindell Library, there is a palpable sense that what Gunkel says is true. For one thing, she\u2019s speaking at a normal volume\u2014and she\u2019s not the only one. While there\u2019s plenty of quiet study space in the building, gone are the days of hushed whispers and silent stacks. There are people using this library.<\/p>\n

The transformation underway at Lindell isn\u2019t a radical departure so much as a deepening of long-held principles. In 1931, Indian librarian S. R. Ranganathan proposed five laws of library science. His precepts continue to shape the profession nearly a century later, and they are at work in this unexpectedly lively place: a library where community is at the center.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy absolute favorite thing about the library is the people,\u201d says Augsburg Library Director Sara Fillbrandt<\/strong>. \u201cThe heart of the library is the community, and that heart goes home every night. Without them, it\u2019s just a building full of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

First law: Books are for use<\/h2>\n

A major goal of the new instruction and outreach librarian team\u2014Gunkel, Megan Schierenbeck<\/strong>, and Kira Cronin-Hennessy<\/strong>, a trio hired at the same time in 2025\u2014is to make it as easy as possible for students and faculty to get the most out of the library\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

\"Three
Librarians Sara Fillbrandt<\/b>, Gunkel, and Megan Schierenbeck<\/b> show off placards from the Talon Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They\u2019re getting creative to do it. Both online and in the library itself, the Talon Trail<\/a> takes students on a self-guided tour of key resources and points of interest in Lindell, from study spaces with the best natural light to where students can check out a laptop. A new visual menu lays out ways the library can support faculty, from short tutorials on library basics to specialized research guides on topics ranging from medieval history to preserving open data. Fable the Fox, an unofficial mascot designed by Jasmine Yacabalque \u201925<\/strong>, beckons library patrons in with his whimsical flair for Scandinavian wear.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the instruction and outreach team partnered with AugSem<\/a>, Augsburg\u2019s required first-year introductory seminar, to bring every AugSem section on a library field trip through the Talon Trail. Among other resources, these visits highlighted the suite of academic supports on the second floor, including TRIO Student Support Services, the Writing Center, and academic advising. The goal was simple: to get new students in the building and help them understand it as a one-stop information hub. In Fillbrandt\u2019s words, \u201cIf you don\u2019t know, go to the library.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point we hit the maximum building capacity with 350 AugSem students in the building,\u201d says Gunkel. \u201cIt\u2019s really meaningful knowing that projects like that make an impact, because I see them come back\u2014to ask for help, or play a game, or check out a Chromebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

This spring semester, Technical Services Coordinator Kristine Kammueller<\/strong> spearheaded a project to build out a new collection of digital textbooks<\/a>. The project represents a major shift from past practice, one that\u2019s grounded in broader efforts to address financial need among Augsburg students and families. With 178 titles in the collection, all with multi-use licenses that enable a whole class to use them, the library staff estimate that the collection is providing 25% of textbooks used by Augsburg students for free. \u201cWhatever [digital texts] we can purchase, we do,\u201d says Fillbrandt.<\/p>\n

Second law: Every reader, their book<\/h2>\n

In 1997, Karen Hogan<\/strong> answered a newspaper classified ad for a position in Augsburg\u2019s new Lindell Library building, which had just opened. Her first job in the library involved managing more than 800 titles in the library\u2019s print periodicals collection. Later, she moved into course reserves (\u201cgiant file cabinets full of articles\u201d) and electronic databases. Today, as resource sharing coordinator, she manages interlibrary loans, working to connect students and faculty to the resources they need.<\/p>\n

\"High-angle
Students present original research at the 2026 Zyzzogeton symposium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI love to see them working through a research problem, and to see what projects faculty are working on\u201d via their requests for books and articles, Hogan says. She often attends Augsburg\u2019s annual Zyzzogeton<\/a> student research symposium to see the finished projects she supported behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s career at Augsburg over the past three decades reflects the seismic shifts in technology that have changed so much of culture and education\u2014libraries included. She says the challenge for students, researchers, and librarians has gone from \u201chow do I find it?\u201d to \u201chow do I manage this firehose of information?\u201d<\/p>\n

The advent of artificial intelligence has accelerated this shift. A notable impact on Hogan\u2019s work has been helping frustrated students identify and guard against \u201challucinatory citations\u201d\u2014real-seeming citations of research works that were invented by AI and don\u2019t, in fact, exist.<\/p>\n

In partnership with faculty, Augsburg\u2019s librarians are on the front lines of teaching AI literacy. Their aim in developing Augsburg\u2019s first student-facing AI guide<\/a> is to nurture students\u2019 critical thinking about generative AI, with a focus on ethical considerations and how to evaluate online information, both in and out of the classroom. Next year, students will be able to enroll in a two-credit course based on modules the library developed around AI literacy\u2014including a section on generative media, a category that includes images, videos, and deepfakes. Additional modules are in the works around mis- and disinformation.<\/p>\n

Third law: Every book, its reader<\/h2>\n

Two years ago, the library team began a massive effort to remove volumes that were more than 20 years old and hadn\u2019t been checked out in more than a decade (a process known in library lingo as \u201cweeding\u201d). This effort reduced the collection from 160,000 volumes to 90,000. But removal from the catalog is not the same as removal from the shelves, notes Fillbrandt. Their physical removal, what student worker Cyril Foday-Kailie \u201926<\/strong> calls \u201ca huge project,\u201d is ongoing. Over the summer, more than 40,000 volumes in poor shape were recycled. An additional 30,000 are in the process of being distributed to Better World Books and other libraries.<\/p>\n

\"Three
A significant weeding project in 2024 opened up space to reconfigure for community use on the first floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why reduce the physical collection? Space is a key motivation. Fewer physical volumes means more room on the shelves. The library staff have been intentional about reducing the density of books on shelves to eliminate \u201ctitle blindness\u201d and make it easier to see what\u2019s on the shelves while browsing. Additionally, the weeding project has allowed the team to remove shelves, open up new gathering spaces, and move items like CDs, DVDs, and reference books out from behind the desk into more accessible areas. (Fillbrandt drops her voice and confesses that her long-term, radical dream is to file the reference collection in with everything else, where it will be available to check out like any other material: one continuous collection filed in Library of Congress order from A to Z.)<\/p>\n

Each of Augsburg\u2019s five schools has a dedicated librarian who specializes in subject matter research, from accounting to urban studies, though they are all equipped to help students and faculty who come in with any question. Every day is different, says Gunkel; in addition to sleuthing private company salary data as part of her work with the School of Business, she\u2019s fielded recent questions on topics ranging from adverse childhood experiences to perimenopause.<\/p>\n

Computer science major Foday-Kailie sought help from his library colleagues with research into the so-called \u201cSarajevo Incident\u201d\u2014the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914\u2014for a history class that required he consult primary sources. Not long after, he was perusing 100-year-old newspapers on microfiche. \u201cAll you have to have is the topic,\u201d he says. \u201cThey can help you with citations, how to get sources\u2014they can help you thoroughly.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Lindell doesn\u2019t have something, another library invariably does. Hogan can find almost anything via interlibrary loan; at present, she\u2019s working on getting a musical score from Canada. She remembers a Halloween pumpkin making the rounds via the Minitex library courier system, each library adding a sticker with its three-letter identification code. Once, she challenged the library student workers to a contest to see who could obtain the most unique item from another library. She won with a Lightning McQueen bake pan sent north from a public library in Iowa.<\/p>\n

Fourth law: Save the time of the reader<\/h2>\n
\"A
Library patrons now check out materials via “James,” a self-service station.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2024, Augsburg became one of the first academic libraries in the U.S. to go completely self-service for circulation. With James and Jean, a self-checkout station and smart locker named in honor of library benefactors James G. Lindell \u201946<\/strong> and Jean G. (Tigwell) Lindell<\/strong>, students check out and return books, retrieve holds, and pick up interlibrary loan materials with less staff support.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a seamless transition for a generation of students who are accustomed to self checkout at the grocery store and picking up packages at Amazon lockers. For the library, the benefits were immediate. Now that students don\u2019t have to wait for someone to help them at the desk, circulation has actually increased, and staff time has been freed up for other priorities. Hogan says utilization of course reserves has also significantly increased by reducing friction for students.<\/p>\n

The library also recently joined the MnPALS consortium, a network of 54 libraries in Minnesota whose scale makes it easier and more cost-effective for individual libraries to manage digital assets in an increasingly complex information environment. This involved a catalog migration\u2014another major summer undertaking\u2014but Fillbrandt says it was worth it, even as the staff continues to clean data following the migration. These changes are part of a broader shift, initiated by former Library Director Stewart Van Cleve, to leverage technology in order to free up staff time for more meaningful work with students and the Augsburg community in the aftermath of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Earth Day programming. Therapy dogs in the library. A student-curated D\u00eda de los Muertos ofrenda last fall. Vibrant mosaic artwork in the windows. \u201cInstead of fixing broken links, our staff members are now spending time on things that matter more and are more visible to the community,\u201d says Fillbrandt.<\/p>\n

Fifth law: The library is a growing organism<\/h2>\n
\"Two
Students take a “brain break” with the library’s board game collection, including Azul.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gunkel often sees the library\u2019s rolling whiteboards covered in chemistry notations when she arrives at work in the morning. Throughout the first floor, intentional changes have made the space more student-friendly in recent years. New tables and chairs on wheels make it easier for groups to gather in flexible arrangements around the whiteboards, whether to map out ideas or work out tricky equations. Where bare metal shelves used to display old yearbooks, students browse new collections on bright blue shelves\u2014comics and graphic novels here, books by Auggie authors there. The tech help desk now shares space with the library front desk.<\/p>\n

Next to racks of board games, students are working on the community jigsaw puzzle. In previous eras, one puzzle used to last the whole semester. But Fillbrandt says the refreshed community spaces in the library have made the puzzle a consistent draw for students, staff, and faculty alike. \u201cWe have three students who come in a couple times a week and sit for two hours. They\u2019ve done three or four puzzles in the last two weeks!\u201d<\/p>\n

Students have had a hand in shaping the space. When Jerid McDonald \u201928<\/strong> initially reached out to the library staff, he was just trying to find a place for the Augsburg Board Game Club to meet. One thing led to another: the library offered space, the game club donated games, and Lindell\u2019s game collection was born.<\/p>\n

\"Three
A partnership with the Augsburg Board Game Club brought the new board game collection to Lindell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI would say Azul and Root are the most popular games,\u201d says McDonald, \u201calong with Uno and chess. It helped that the library specifically surveyed people about what games they wanted to see in the collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sturdy, high-quality chess board was a common request. Munchkin and Slay the Spire get a lot of use. Students can play in the library, of course, or check out games to take back to their residence halls. It\u2019s one of many ways the library is focusing on social belonging as well as academic success\u2014by offering \u201cbrain breaks\u201d when students need them. McDonald, a triple major in math, physics, and computer science, has had to step back from leading the board game club due to time constraints, but he\u2019s proud and grateful that the permanent game collection in the library is now available to the whole Augsburg community.<\/p>\n

This June, Fillbrandt will present as part of a panel at the American Library Association conference about the ways Augsburg has embraced change to make the library a more human-centered place. Hogan says doing so has required the courage and willingness to say \u201cwe\u2019re not going to do that anymore\u201d in order to make space for what students need today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is the best iteration of the library so far,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

At Lindell Library these days, that\u2019s something you can say out loud.<\/p>\n

\n

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