Learning Commons to Communicative Commons: Transforming the Academic Library

The transition from information to learning commons is an important step in the transformation of the academic library; yet, it is important that the commons movement not lose its momentum. The learning commons may be considered as a stage in the transformation of the academic library as a whole to a communicative commons whose objective is to insure that all members of the academic community can exercise their right to communicate, that is, to be informed and to inform. However, to advance further on this transformative trajectory, there is a need to construct a conceptual framework that is in accord with the emerging communicative context of the academic library. This paper proposes a communicative commons framework based on the human right to communicate. The framework's implications for the transformation of the academic library and its services are examined.