The Future of Robarts In the final episode of The Unquiet Library: 50 Years of Robarts Library, host Jesse Carliner looks ahead to what the future holds for the John P. Robarts Research Library at the University of Toronto amid digital access, changing cities, and evolving user needs.
Artist Jess Thalmann imagines Robarts as a “glorious futurist ruin,” while urbanist Shawn Micallef argues the building will endure and that libraries are increasingly vital as shared study spaces in a denser Toronto. Professor Siobhan Stevenson highlights the magic of finding books in the stacks and questions how digitization and automation may reshape academic librarianship. Digital humanities pioneer Ian Lancashire warns about long-term digital fragility and advocates keeping print for archival and reading purposes. Librarian Sian Meikle stresses libraries’ role in cultural heritage, digital preservation, and community, while architect Michael McClelland and architectural historian Mary Louise Lobsinger consider Robarts Library as a growing civic hub amid land scarcity. Former chief librarian Carol Moore emphasizes adaptation, preserving artifacts and collections, and challenges around new formats, costs, and intellectual property.
For more on Robarts’ history, visit uoft.me/robarts50 and follow @unquietlibrary on Instagram, Blue Sky, and TikTok.
00:00 Opening with Jessica Thalman
00:51 Episode Introduction and welcome
03:05 Shawn Micallef
07:13 Siobhan Stevenson
08:38 Ian Lancashire
13:22 Sian Meikle
16:07 Siobhan Stevenson
18:25 Michael McClelland
21:21 Mary Louise Lobsinger
23:23 Carole Moore
29:54 Conclusion
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