In this Issue
May/June 2026Vol. XXXVIII No. 6

Future-Proofing the Academic Library

Chris Bourg

When called upon to define the research library of the future, MIT, as usual, chose a bold path. The library envisioned by the Ad Hoc Task Force on the Future of Libraries would prioritize public access to knowledge, serve a global audience, and unlock computational access to research and data.

“The better world we seek is one in which there is abundant, equitable, meaningful access to knowledge and to the products of the full life cycle of research…Moreover, access to knowledge must be fluid, interactive, contextualized, participatory, programmable, and comprehensive” –MIT Ad Hoc Task Force on the Future of Libraries

When considered in the context of what the MIT community has experienced since 2016 – a global pandemic, attacks on higher education, declining public trust in science, significant loss of research funding, and the “tectonic forces” of artificial intelligence – the prescience of this vision is striking.

The task force, which benefited from broad faculty representation across MIT’s DLCIs, presented 10 recommendations. The core recommendations and vision of the task force continue to guide the Libraries strategy:

 

  • MIT Libraries should provide comprehensive digital access to content in our collections, by expanding our capacity to acquire and make available born-digital content and by digitizing much of our analog collections.
  • The library should be a repository of knowledge available to be accessed and analyzed by humans and by machines and algorithms. Comprehensive digital access will permit “future uses of our data that we cannot yet imagine.”
  • Library spaces serve a unique and valued function across campus and should support a full range of activities: quiet contemplation, collaborative work, community events, and serendipitous connections.
  • While the Institute’s commitment to open access is widely recognized, most of MIT’s scholarship remains unavailable for open dissemination. “MIT should remain a leader in this movement, for its own good, and for the good of the world.”
  • The library should establish a research center to explore challenges in information science and scholarly communication.

           

What We’ve Done

Since the report’s release, the Libraries have made significant progress on these ambitious goals. The following is just a partial list of projects advancing us toward the task force vision:

  • Built TIMDEX, a unified discovery index and API, making the full breadth of library collections searchable through a single interface, with semantic search underway and agentic access on the horizon.
  • Developed a Discovery Strategic Plan to determine the future direction of the Libraries’ discovery ecosystem, the tools, platforms, interfaces, and data that support library users in engaging our collections and services.
  • Increased support for data-intensive and computational research: Data Services staff had more than 1,000 engagements with MIT community members last year between individual consultations and workshops, and visits to the GIS & Data Lab have doubled in the last two years.
  • Renovated Hayden Library and the Building 14 Courtyard to provide areas for collaborative work, exploring collections, a teaching and event space, a new cafe, and expanded 24/7 study space.

The world continues to look to MIT as a model for open scholarship policies and practices. This area has also seen significant progress:

 

With journal subscriptions, the Libraries have shifted to a more sustainable approach for providing access to paywalled content. After Elsevier could not present a proposal that aligned with the principles of the MIT Framework for Publisher Contracts, MIT ended negotiations in June 2020. The Institute has achieved significant savings remaining out of contract, while the Libraries are providing quick alternative access to Elsevier content.

In light of recent significant budget reductions, the Libraries have cancelled additional costly subscriptions and are providing quick on-demand access to even more articles for the community. Browsing is still available for most journals, regardless of subscription status. Articles covered by previous subscriptions (as well as open access articles) can be accessed directly. I encourage you to visit our website to explore tools for requesting and browsing, ensuring your path to the literature continues to be as seamless as possible.

Together with the CLS and other MIT supporters of open science, we continue to strongly advocate for open and equitable scholarship – so that neither paywalls nor exorbitant APCs (article processing charges) stifle the reach of scholarship or drain institutional resources.

 

An Enduring Vision

The task force’s forward-thinking vision and the Libraries’ progress enacting many of its recommendations allowed the Libraries to continue supporting the vast majority of MIT’s teaching and research needs during the pandemic. This period of all-remote research and teaching catalyzed our transition to a digital-first library. The Libraries designed, built, and implemented an electronic theses and dissertations submission tool to enable degree-granting departments and programs to easily upload and submit approved digital work. We have seen a fourfold increase in on-demand digitization requests since 2020 and have increased born-digital acquisitions: In FY2025, we dedicated 97% of the collections spend to digital resources.

The principles of the task force vision were not only a North Star in a time of crisis, but they also continue to prove as relevant as ever post-pandemic, as we see distinct changes in user behavior:

  • Use of digital collections is skyrocketing, alongside declining circulation of physical items.
  • Foot traffic has decreased at all library locations during regular staffed hours, except at the newly renovated Hayden Library.
  • There is high demand for 24/7 unstaffed study spaces, which we expanded significantly since 2021.
  • A higher proportion of users now prefer online reference help and research consultations than pre-pandemic.
  • Library events, such as the MIT Reads program, have expanded their reach through hybrid programs.

These user trends, together with the enduring principles of the task force report, informed our approach to budget reductions last fall. Developed in consultation with the CLS, our plan allows us to more efficiently meet declining – but still relevant – needs for physical collections and library space, while closely aligning with MIT’s strategic initiatives. These updates to our services reflect our response to both FY26 and FY27 budget cuts and position the Libraries to continue to evolve in alignment with the community and pursue our vision for years to come.

 

Redefining the Library Space

Library spaces have always been more than book stacks and study spaces; they are essential sites intellectual life, where community, inquiry, and discovery take shape. As the role of the library and the research and study habits of scholars evolve, we are intentionally developing spaces that foster and inspire the kind of deep, human, social, and intellectual engagement that cannot be replicated on a screen. In these spaces, the physical and digital are not in tension — they intersect to enable and inspire new ways of thinking. From the strategic reimagining of Hayden — literally built from the vision of the Future of Libraries Task Force — to the specialized environments of the Lewis Music Library and the Distinctive Collections Reading Room, we are focusing on spaces that empower users through connection, collections, and expert partnership. This spirit also defines our work with the School of Architecture and Planning; we are co-creating a dynamic future for Rotch that ensures our physical presence is resilient and responsive to the needs of future generations of scholars.

 

What’s Next

The Libraries continue to advance our digital-first strategy, support data-intensive and computational research, and pursue a more open and equitable scholarly publishing landscape. Some of our current projects include:

  • Recently launching a beta version of Unified Search, streamlining discovery of library resources across multiple systems. Unified searching is part of a broader set of improvements aimed at easier access to collections and services, including upgrades to DSpace, Dome, and the Libraries homepage. The implementation of LibKey simplifies journal article access.

  • Meeting high demand for basic computing skills for researchers through the Carpentries@MIT program: This workshop series has reached more than 400 participants, and we waitlist almost as many people as we register. We have partnered with ORCD and the Schwarzman College of Computing and are developing discipline-oriented workshops, including specialized lessons for Biology and EAPS.

 

  • Continuing to lead in open scholarship: CREOS is developing a tool to help model read and publication costs for journals. The initial findings are available to inform open scholarship policies and practices at Ivy Plus institutions. In addition, discussions with MIT’s Graduate Student Council led to their recently passing a Resolution on Scientific Publishing and MIT Libraries. If you would like to get involved in open scholarship advocacy, please reach out to scholarlypub@mit.edu.

 

Future goals include:

  • Establishing funding for large digitization projects, including the digitization of nearly 74,000 MIT theses and dissertations that remain available only in print, and the digitization of 70,000 MIT Technical Reports and working papers that have never been available in digital form.

  • Partnering with MIT students, faculty, classes, and labs on developing new innovative tools for exploring and analyzing library collections, including the creation of new tools that provide scholars with a meaningful digital browsing experience that not only recreates physical browsing of library stacks, but improves and expands that experience in digital space.

 

As we look ahead, the MIT Libraries remain committed to advancing a digital-first, open, and computationally enabled future for scholarship. At a time when the production and sharing of knowledge is contested and under strain, the role of the academic library is more critical than ever. By continuing to innovate in access, discovery, and research support, we aim not only to serve the evolving needs of the MIT community, but to help define the future of the academic library itself.

My colleagues and I are always eager to discuss our work and collaborate on our future goals with faculty across the Institute. We especially welcome invitations to join regular department, lab, and center meetings for such discussions. Feel free to contact me at director-lib@mit.edu.

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