Introduction

Since 2013, Virginia Tech has expanded the services provided by the University Libraries to include spaces and programs atypical of an academic library. Such services include the Studios Network, a series of spaces that provide open access to technology and resources for users to explore, and two exhibit programs that curate and display content from courses taught on campus. These initiatives provide support to patrons in ways that are challenging to describe in terms used for more traditional library services. They are outward facing; patrons of the library are able to see and engage with work from around the University by entering into the studio and exhibit spaces, as well as through content made available online. These services are intended to create low barriers of entry for patrons to create and play, and to act as a gateway to other resources and activities available at Virginia Tech.

In this chapter, we will discuss how non-traditional library services can be better understood and their impact more fully measured using social network analysis. Based on our experiences managing these programs and spaces, we will describe the connections facilitated by the programs we support and discuss how they differ from more traditional library services in ways that positively affect the Virginia Tech community. Our use of social network analysis focuses on the qualitative elements of our social networks: their reciprocity, intensity and multiplexity (Tichy, Tushman & Fombrun 1979, p. 509). Our goal in outlining these relationships is to demonstrate how their value might be expressed, particularly in comparison with other library services that may serve a greater number of patrons, but not in the same capacity. Data for this effort have been drawn from our experiences as founding managers of our respective programs, as well as public outcomes of our work. Studios and exhibits are relatively new services provided by libraries, and so this chapter will contribute to scholarly literature on how these programs work, as well as how their value can be communicated.

We begin the chapter with a description of the Studios Network and exhibit programs and outline the values and ideas that guided their development, many of which allow for greater collaboration among patrons.