Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Conference in Florida - June 7-8, 2010

Florida State U. is hosting "Academic Learning Spaces: Invention, (Re)Invention and Innovation" in Tallahassee, June 7-8, 2010.

Crit Stuart, formerly at ARL and Georgia Tech, is the facilitator. Stuart is an advocate and successful practitioner of user-centered design, i.e., avoiding the template or one-size-fits-all approach to planning new or renovated library/learning spaces.  ARL posted a very good bibliography, New Thinking on Space & Facilities, with links to five of Stuart's publications and presentations.

Registration is limited to 150 to allow for lots of hands-on work during the two-day conference.
http://www.lib.fsu.edu/events/academic-learning-spaces/index.html

Friday, April 9, 2010

In the Works - Old Dominion University

Morel Fry, Administrative Services Librarian at Old Dominion U. in Norfolk, VA, passed along some information about ODU's Learning Commons project, which is being documented and tracked via the Learning Commons Wiki.

"Old Dominion University Library in collaboration with our Office of Computing and Communications Services and University College is also in the process of building a Learning Commons. Construction will start in May and add 8000 square feet to the library as part of a 20,000 sq. ft. renovation of the first floor into a learning commons with enhanced technology, University college services and library services. The commons will be open 24/5, will have 5 collaboration rooms, presentation room, multi-media room (with sound booth), and have a café. There will also be a 30,000 sq. ft. addition to the library that will house University College staff. At ODU, University college services include freshman and transfer orientation and parent programs, placement testing, academic advising, mentoring and tutoring, learning communities, career management, experiential learning evaluation, developmental course offerings, academic continuance, and student success programs."

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

...and Beyond -- Goucher College's Athenaeum

When I worked in Providence a while back, the Athenaeum on Benefit St. was a favorite place to spend a quiet hour or two, browsing the stacks or looking up a title in the half-high card catalog, some of the cards hand-written by calligraphic angels.

A new Athenaeum at Goucher College (Baltimore, MD) opened last September in a beautiful new building that should be on your list of site visits if you are anywhere near the east coast. In what is fast becoming a model of new academic facilities, the Athenaeum is a library, information commons, art gallery, public forum in a three-story atrium, radio station, restaurant, meeting rooms. Even an exercise area overlooking the atrium. And it's open all the time.