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From 1992 to Today: The Spirit of Change in JMU Libraries

Posted October 7, 2025 in Carrier Renovation News, JMU Libraries News

Screenshot of the cover of the Montpelier magazine mentioned in the story
The cover of the 1992 Montpelier in which the story was published

As you reminisce during Homecoming, imagine opening a time capsule from 1992 and glimpsing how people at JMU envisioned the future of our campus libraries. You’d find predictions about technology in classrooms, distance learning, and preparing to teach things that hadn’t even been invented yet.

Those projections were published more than 30 years ago in an article titled, “Shh! You Won’t Recognize Carrier Library,” in Montpelier, the forerunner of Madison magazine.

Echoing across the decades, that 1992 article includes reflections that still resonate today:

“Knowledge is exploding, and the corresponding information barrage comes in all forms and from all directions… Information sources are badly needed to keep up with the demands of ever-evolving, future-oriented disciplines and studies.”

At the heart of the story was a university on the edge of transformation: technology was advancing rapidly, the internet was starting to take shape, and Carrier Library was facing space constraints. Then-president Ronald E. Carrier—for whom Carrier Library is named—offered a forward-looking vision:

“There will still be books in the library of the future… but if we are to build for the future, we will have to network through information systems.”

That vision was reflected in the article’s portrayal of JMU Libraries as “an integral, evolving creature that reflects and anticipates the needs and progress of the rest of the university community.”

The importance of cross-campus collaboration to support such change was also highlighted:

“The library and Office of Information Technology… have a closer cooperation. New courses that cross academic disciplines are planned. Computers are being used increasingly in classrooms… off-campus instruction via television is in the cards, as are international seminars and teleconferencing.”

And with remarkable foresight, one instructor predicted, “five to 10 years from now, we’ll be teaching things we don’t even have names for now.”

An excerpt from the 1992 story: "JMU, never shy about meeting challenge with innovation, has again come up with a blueprint for the future. JMU President Ronald E. Carrier sums it up. Libraries, he says, "can no longer be places to store information. They must be retrieval centers." There will still be books in the library of the future, Carrier says, but "if we are to build for the future ... we will have to network through information systems." Libraries must become the center of an organized system that will let users quickly and conveniently gain access — "access is a key word these days — to the materials they want. Goodbye, 3x5 cards. Hello computers.
An excerpt of the 1992 story

We’ve digitized and preserved this prescient 1992 story in JMU Scholarly Commons, where it now serves as a reminder that libraries—among the most enduring institutions in human history—are anything but static. Especially at JMU Libraries, change isn’t just inevitable, it’s anticipated.

While the names and technologies have changed, the spirit of innovation hasn’t. From online teaching to artificial intelligence to the reopening of Carrier Library in August, JMU Libraries continues to evolve—meeting the moment, imagining what’s next, applying professional ethics and critical expertise, and supporting every Duke along the way.