Home > Graduate School > Master of Library and Information Science > SOLIS
GUEST SPEAKER
Dr. William Potter Visits VSU
On April 11th, 2006, Dr. William Potter, University Librarian & Associate Provost for the University of Georgia Libraries, spoke with Odum Library faculty and staff about the Student Learning Center at UGA as well as the future of libraries (i.e. what makes a library).
The new state-of-the-art Student Learning Center (or SLC), opened to UGA students two years ago and features classrooms, study rooms, study halls, wireless networking, and hundreds of workstations. Dr. Potter pointed out that the while the role of the library has been evolving throughout the years, many functions remain the same and will continue to. For example: while the number of physical book checkouts is declining, information being obtained from online sources is increasing and, while this information can be downloaded anywhere, many users still come to a "central hub" to access and obtain what they need as well as to study.
Because it provides what students need, the SLC has been a huge success for UGA and may provide a template for future universities to follow.
from the UGA web site:
Dr. William Gray Potter is the current editor of College and Research Libraries, has served on the boards of the Association of Research Libraries, OCLC and Solinet and is a past-president of the Libraries Information Technology Association.
Dr. Potter holds a doctorate in Library Science and Information Technology, as well as Master’s degrees in English and in Library Science, from the University of Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He has been head of the Libraries at UGA since 1989.