Development of a materials library within the university library: analogue and digital link

Traditionally, students entering architecture studies came mainly from families that were involved in construction. Their practical knowledge of building materials was sufficient to complement the theoretical teaching they received at university on this subject. However, the situation has changed and the family background of students no longer guarantees this prior knowledge. Society, and the university, has fully entered the era of digitalisation. This has had an impact not only on the profile and skills of students, but also on the way they consult the building materials that are prescribed in their academic projects: they have left university libraries behind, in favour of browsers and websites. Thus, this joint initiative arose to create a collection of sample materials within a university library that links the analogue experience of materials with the digital knowledge on these samples that is available in libraries. The digital knowledge associated with each sample is selected in a cooperative way by the architectural students, under the supervision of the academic staff and with the help of an intern. Tradicionalmente, los estudiantes de arquitectura provenían de familias relacionadas con la construcción, lo que les permitía complementar los conocimientos teóricos con su experiencia práctica. Sin embargo, la digitalización ha cambiado esta dinámica, afectando el perfil y las competencias de los estudiantes, así como la forma en que consultan los materiales de construcción, ahora a través de internet en lugar de bibliotecas. Así surge la iniciativa conjunta de crear una colección de muestras de materiales de edificación dentro de nuestra biblioteca universitaria donde se vincule la experiencia analógica de cada material con el conocimiento digital disponible. Este conocimiento digital es seleccionado y editado por los propios estudiantes bajo la supervisión del profesorado y becarios.