On the Horizon - EDUCAUSE Session on the Research Commons

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference will be October 18 - 21 in Philadelphia. Lauren Ray, Research Commons and Educational Outreach Services Librarian at U. of Washington, will present "Creating the Research Commons: The New York University and University of Washington Experience" on Wednesday, October 19. Here's the description from the conference program:
"The NYU and University of Washington libraries simultaneously created research commons, transforming physical and virtual spaces and integrating content and technology specialists to serve 21st-century researchers. They will describe their redesign values, goals and process, user assessments, and the resulting services and spaces. Lessons learned and future interinstitutional collaborations will be discussed."

NYU Research Commons

U. Washington Research Commons

You can get an idea of what Lauren will be presenting if you visit her blog. She has been posting since the Research Commons was in design phase in Summer 2010. Includes photos and a report on the ongoing assessment of the Commons.

Or you can see Betsy Wilson's ppt from the ALA/ALCTS Midwinter 2011 talk: "Parallel Library Universes: A Case for Feverish Pink Paint and Virtual Vortexes." Betsy is Dean of University Libraries at the University of Washington.