We are building conventional library space without making the paradigm shift our digital environment requires. The chief obstacles to change lie in our conception of readers as information consumers, in our allegiance to library operations as the drivers of library design, and in the choice made between foundational and non-foundational views of knowledge. We have the choice of focusing on the delivery of electronic information and abandoning many of our claims on physical space or of designing library space for learning. The latter choice is illustrated by a thought experiment involving the reference desk.