Williams College - a New Sawyer Library

July, 2014 is the target date Williams College is  working toward for the opening of a new Sawyer Library as part of a renovation and integration with Stetson Hall.  The new library will house the humanities and social sciences collections as well as a Learning Commons, the Center for Media Initiatives, a café, and the college archives. "By collocating previously dispersed collections and services, the new library will create new synergies and creative opportunities for collaboration." http://bit.ly/y53ND6

Sawyer Library (1975) to be demolished (brief history here)

New Sawyer, east elevation (July, 2014). Architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ) designed the project


Animated walkthrough   


Construction site photos on Flickr


Steve Satullo's blog Eph's Libraries: Old to New traces the history of libraries at Williams, beginning with a collection of 360 books in one room of the original college building.

ALA Midwinter: Learning Commons Discussion Forum

Sunday, January 22, 2012, 4-5:30pm
Dallas Convention Center, Room D174
http://alamw12.scheduler.ala.org/node/2290

Has your library partnered with academic support services to offer a “learning commons” in the library, or are you discussing/planning such a partnership? If so, please join us for a discussion forum on “The Learning Commons and the Academic Library: Using Emerging Technologies and New Partnerships to Build Student Success.”

Carrie Donovan, Head of Teaching & Learning at Indiana University Libraries, will speak about the processes and partnerships IU is developing as they redesign their information commons. Attendees will then have the opportunity to discuss how emerging technologies can transform both spaces and services. Be prepared to share your own ideas and experiences as well as your dreams for how the creative learning commons can support the 21st century student.

Yale Opens Its First Info Commons

Yale Daily News reports today on the open house for the new information commons, officially the Center for Science and Social Science Information, located in the basement of Kline Biology Tower, a 1965 Philip Johnson building. 


Yale administrators are hoping that the CSSSI will foster more collaboration and interdisciplinary work.  An adjoining Cafe provides an informal space that will help humanize the Tower, which the Daily News reporter refers to as an "overbearing structure."


See my earlier post for details on how the library administration views the new facility.  

Update: U of Denver's Penrose Library Academic Commons

The Anderson Academic Commons project was completed in March, 2013. "The Commons is the campus centerpiece for collaborative, technology-infused teaching, learning and engagement."

Information Commons Discussion Group Midwinter meeting

Passing along this post from Rudy Leon, convener of ACRL's InfoCommons Discussion Group, regarding the virtual session planned for ALA Midwinter on January 11, 2012:

Hello all,
For Midwinter this year, the InfoCommons Discussion group will be meeting virtually. We're very excited to try this out. We've reserved an iLinc room via ALA, and will meet January 11 2012, 1-2:30 pm Central Time. The log-in instructions are below, and on the Connect space.

Our Midwinter discussion will continue the assessment conversation we had at Annual 2011. Don Beagle will kick off our meeting with a 20-minute presentation based on his EDUCAUSE report, "From Learning Commons to Learning Outcomes." This report was posted on Sept 27 by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR), and within 6 weeks had become the #1 most-downloaded ECAR research bulletin of 2011. Don's comments will also go beyond the ECAR report to look in more detail at 1) recent research into cultural impacts on user expectations of service delivery (especially pertinent to "Affect of Service" as measured by LibQUAL+® , and 2) recent research by Derek Rodriguez into library impacts on student outcomes in capstone courses, and how this might be adapted for Commons model assessment.

I'd like to extend this invitation to all of you: if you have information about service assessment at your Commons that you would like to share, please feel free to put together a PowerPoint slide or two and send that to Rudy Leon by January 9. Because of the nature of iLinc, I will need to upload slides ahead of time. Slides are not necessary if you want to participate, or contribute! But if you do have something visual you want to share, we have the opportunity to do so.

We've scheduled 70 minutes for discussion following Don's presentation. I'm very excited about this, and hope you are as well.
http://connect.ala.org/node/161334