Revisiting Academic Library Design: A Response to William T. Caniano\u27s Academic Library Design: A Commons or an Athenaeum

This article responds to William T. Caniano\u27s recent article in Library Philosophy and Practice criticizing the Commons model as causing a labization of the library, where a focus on high gate count creates noise problems inimical to the traditional scholarly ideal of the library. Caniano further asserts that increased use of laptops and mobile devices in the future will drive down demand for desktops, thus drastically reducing gate count and causing our Commons to become deserted. Lastly, Caniano advocates replacing it with what he calls the Athenaeum model. This article describes a number of sections of the Commons literature not mentioned by Caniano, and examines several counter-examples that support a broader and deeper description of the Commons than he provides, as well as a richer context for its implementation and assessment than his article acknowledges