Tame The Web

I’ve become fascinated with the idea and implementation of the Commons in academic libraries of late. It’s very much part of what I call The Hyperlinked Library. These past few months, I’ve wrote about the commons at ALA TechSource blog. Please take a look if you are interested.

• The Space Had to Say WOW: Indiana University South Bend
• Student-centered Digital Learning: Loyola University
• Keeping the Library Relevant: Georgia Tech

Productivity workstations as far as the eye can see, originally uploaded by julieshen.

julieshen writes:

This is the Cal Poly Pomona University Library’s brand new productivity center. It’s located next to the Reference Desk (now called the Research Help Desk), which shares space with staff providing technical help, and part of our new learning commons. It’s not open for use yet, but once it’s ready the productivity workstations will have the normal Microsoft Office software suite along with a lot of other software, including GIS and SPSS. It’s part of theexpansion we’ve been going through for the past 2 years:
www.csupomona.edu/~library/TheNextChapter/

http://education.guardian.co.uk/librariesunleashed/story/0,,2274826,00.html

Colleges and universities are on a similar learning curve. Today’s student population is more diverse, it demands e-learning and online resources including Web 2.0 technologies, and has higher expectations of physical space. Meanwhile, researchers and academics are calling for better access to digital resources.

Design must be flexible enough to cater ‘Buildings need to inspire’ for present as well as future needs, according to Marmot, who is also a professor of facility and environment management at the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at University College London and whose practice is designing the new library at University of Nottingham. This library incorporates what Marmot describes as a “mini- Imax” - giant screens where students can project and work on audio-visual presentations. A member of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe), Marmot is working on an academic library design guide for the Scottish Funding Council. Cabe has also collaborated with Jisc on its best practice guide, Designing Spaces for Effective Learning.