Professional Development

This afternoon 18+ folks gathered in LIB204 for a webcast from ACRL on Information Commons. The sections was led by Joan Lippencott. Here are the notes from the session - it will be available online from ACRL and I will post the link here when available.

She began by discussing the concepts of Information Commons and Learning Common.

• Not just computer labs - need to incorporate the role of content and levels of service that computer labs don’t.
• Many also make room for other campus services (writing center and Teaching and Learning Center)
• Info Commons emphasize areas for groups, collaborations, food, art, etc. as opposed to quiet individual study
• Need to provide an environment that engage learners
• Most are in libraries, but some are in academic buildings or student centers

Vision and Goals

• Who will conceptualize the vision and goals for your commons? Who other than library staff need to be involved? Encourages direct representation on committees by students.
• How does your library serve the community?
• Link your goals to the goals of the University as a whole.

For What Purpose

• Convenience
• Increase ability of students to work in groups
• Make more technology available
• Provide services efficiently and effectively
• Provide new services
• Promote a sense of community
• Enhance learning — should be your primary focus

Linking the Info Commons to Learning

• Deeper Learning
  • Social
  • Active
  • Contextual
  • Engaging
  • Student-Owned

Physical Space Slides showing examples of spaces from Info Commons

Collaborations and Partnership

Issue is do they become partners or just tenants? Not much leveraging of the physical proximity.

• Co-location - adjacenct service points and opportunities for informal crossover staff contact
• Cooperation
• Collaboration - developing shared mission and goals, joint planning, pool expertise to develop new services, each contributes resources.
• Dartmouth Center for Research, Writing and IT. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rwit/
• GA Tech Information Commons

Staffing Issues:

• What will be the key uses of your commons?
• What types of services do you anticipate?
• Who will be your partner organizations?
• Will services with other units be co-located?
• What mix of professional, support, student staffing will be needed?
• What kind of training is needed and who will provide it?

Assessment

• Gate counts
• counts of use of workstations
• use surveys
• question counts
• satisfaction surveys
• quality perception surveys

• Frame assessments in the context of your institutiton’s learning priorities
• Partner with assessment experts on your campus
• Communicate to staff what type of information would be valuable to administrators and funders
• Assemble stakeholders to shape the assesment effort
• consider both quantitative and qualitative measures

5 Ideas You Can Do Now

• Form group spaces in open areas
• Add inexpensive equipment to promote student collaborative learning
• Improve promotion of content and services through signage and displays
• Begin pertnerships and joint training with other units
• Do needs assessments

Planning Issues

• Develop a vision related to learning
• Develop goals
• Determine partners
• define and gain resources
• determine location
• define what you want users to be able to do
• define services
• determine staff needs
• Later you can work on the specifics

The second pair of presentations I attended was on the theme of designing learning spaces in libraries. I was reminded that I wrote a paper on this topic ages ago (late 90’s) when we were building the Undergraduate Library at Wayne. Many of the principles are the same, but the importance of technology is even greater than it was back then.

“Designing Self-Service Learning Environments” by Wendy Starkweather of UNLV emphasized the following timeless principles:

• Self-service (for convenience, speed, choice and control)
• Flexibility (perhaps the single most key component in modern design)
• Stimulating spaces (the wow factor)
• Foster both community and contemplation (need both quiet and non-quiet spaces)
• Provide healthful, ergonomic environment (but what they really want is soft seating)
• Service policies that support design principles (give them what they want)

Starkweather reminded us that the life cycle of buildings is much longer than the life cycle of policies or technologies so designing an adaptable structure and infrastructure is key. Being a classics major, I loved the way she summed up the presentation, which she “borrowed” from another university: tuum est, meaning “it is yours.”

“Effective Practices for Technology-Enhanced Spatial Transformations” was a panel presentation by three librarians from the University of Southern California. Projects were described at the Von KleinSmid Applied Social Sciences Library, the Science and Engineering Library, and the Leavey Undergraduate Library. Themes were similar to the previous presentation: the need for flexible space, growing importance of multimedia, the library as a community gathering space for the campus, the need for both quiet, individual spaces and non-quiet group spaces. The Leavey Library designed a podcasting studio that might bear further investigation. One line I loved from one of the speakers was when she introduced herself with the title of Team Leader - “which now sounds so 90’s!”

Lynn