Corporate Sponsorship: is it the future of libraries?

While I was conducting yesterday’s survey of academic library websites I came across something rather odd when looking at Kwantlen Polytechnic University library’s website.  They are sponsored.  Kwantlen’s library is called the “Coast Capital Savings Library.”

(Image from Kwantlen Polytechnic University Library’s website: http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/library.html)

I was shocked.  And yet I’m not sure why I was shocked.  I am not condoning corporate sponsorship, but I understand why a library would do so.  Why not?  Many libraries are named after personal donors.  So why not corporate donors.

So while I was shocked, I am not judging the librarians at Kwantlen.  I bet that money went into providing amazing services for their students.  I don’t want to judge, but at the same time I don’t want to someday find myself working in Concordia Univesity College Library presented by Budweiser.