When the library at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI, was built in the late 1960s, the student population was 5,000. Today that number is closer to 25,000 and the university has embraced a collaborative culture that fosters innovation. The Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons gives students control over their environment to a degree rarely seen. The result is a library that “welcomes activity, vibrancy, and the messy creation of new knowledge,” says Dean Lee Van Orsdel.
