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Model: Determining Best Practices for Design, Implementation, and Service |
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Information Commons and Learning Commons Site Visits
Overview Connecticut College is a highly selective, liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut with an FTE of 1900 and approximately 200 faculty members. They have 11 librarians and a total full-time staff equivalent of about 56 for the combined library/information technology positions. An organizational chart is available at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/orgchart.html. Connecticut College has had a merged Library and Information Technology organization since 1995. This merger was mandated by the administration in a strategic move to bring the two service agencies together in the College's organizational structure. Though organizationally merged, a few staff are physically located in other campus locations dependant on their job function. For example the Music Librarian and the Visual Resources Librarian are located in the Cummings Art Center and the Foreign Language Specialist works in the Language Lab in the Foreign Languages Department. Both librarians and information technology personnel agree that the merger has been good for the College and the students. They are able to work in a highly collaborative environment that invites problem-solving. Since the original merger there continues to be organizational change as necessary to accommodate new technologies and services. They foresee that the current model will also continue to change if they are responsive to faculty and staff needs and campus culture. As an Information Commons environment, Connecticut College, with 10 years of growth and experience, can be seen as an excellent example of an Information Commons Building. They have brought several services together under one structure and have holistically worked them throughout their building. Description of Services and Facilities There are three primary service desks within the Library Building: the Circulation & Reserves Desk, the Reference Desk, and the Technology Help Desk, each with clear signage and easy access for the patron. The Circulation Desk is conveniently located near the front door and the Reference Desk is the first desk you see front and center as you enter the library. The Technology Help Desk is located on the lower level but is quickly accessed by students through the technology hotline that is strategically placed in the Print Work station area adjacent to the Circulation Desk.
The Reference Desk is staffed by professional staff librarians and operates as a traditional reference service point. Reference services and operations will be discussed more fully in the Reference Services section of this report. Librarians and information technology staff agree that the decision to place the Technology Help Desk separately from the Reference Desk was appropriate due to the nature of the service provided. This was readily observed during my tour of the Technology Help area. At one time, a technician was problem-solving on the phone and another was working with a toolkit to fix a laptop hardware issue. The help desk is readily accessible during all library hours and provides an important user service point in the operation of the building. Both library and IT staff feel that having it separate from traditional reference desk functions is beneficial to all -- librarians, technicians, and students. If there is a technology issue that needs to be resolved on a different floor of the library, i.e. the print workstations, the help desk staff is only a phone call away. The technology help desk is staffed entirely by student workers.
There are four Computer Clusters designed for in depth research and scholarship; four clusters of six workstations on the main level and a fifth cluster on the lower level. All of the computers in the clusters contained the same software suite, including: Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Dream Weaver, Endnote, Flash, and SPSS. These workstations are very heavily used throughout the day. Additionally there 8 public workstations that allow quick web and email access and are distributed throughout the four floors of the library. Printing is available from all computer workstations through student login and ID. The main Print Station is located near the Circulation Desk and the Quick Print Station is located on the lower level.
Media Services is another important service component of Information Services. It is conveniently located across the hall from the Technology Help Desk. In addition to providing the campus community with equipment and technical support for enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom, Media Services supports the Advanced Technology Lab that is located adjacent to their area on the ground floor. The Advanced Technology Lab is open regular library hours and freely open to anyone from the campus community. This lab provides high end technology for digital media production and a assistive technology workstation for the visually and hearing impaired. The "creation stations" contained in this lab provide both Apple Macintosh and Windows-based hardware and software.
Another service point that is not currently located in the library building, but is governed and staffed by Information Services, is the Digital Curriculum Center. The DCC supports faculty using technology to create digital assets that enhance curriculum and achieve pedagogical goals. This center is currently housed in one of the main academic buildings making it convenient to many faculty who work in that building. There are plans to bring this center into the Library building with the proposed renovation project. By moving the DCC to the library, Information Services could increase its hours of operation and provide greater staffing support. Currently staff expertise in the DCC is also used to support high end use in the Advanced Technology Lab. Having the two services together in one building would provide a better support system for both. Additionally, there are 3 computer labs of different size and focus within the library. The Davis Electronic Classroom is designated for library instruction within the information literacy program and is located in close proximity to the reference desk. It contains 10 PC computers but can seat about 20 students. The PC Electronic Classroom is larger and located on the ground floor. It currently contains 20 PCs with seating for two people at each workstation. They plan to add Macintosh computers to this classroom by the summer. The Neff lab is a Mac Lab with 10 workstations set up around the perimeter of the room. All 3 labs are open to the College community when not being utilized for classroom instruction. As a point of interest, each lab has its own art work, adding a touch of ambiance to what can sometimes be a sterile environment. A description of each lab is available at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/academic-tech/computerlab/
The Blue Camel Cafe is a very important component of this Information Commons Building. It opened 3 years ago and is not part of the regular college dining services. Providing light fare, it has been extremely popular with students, staff, and faculty. Surrounding the Cafe are areas for both group and individual study.
4 Collaborative work areas for students are found on the ground floor near the Cafe. Each contain seating for four or more users and a large shared monitor displayed. One laptop can be hooked up to the monitor so all students can work together on a project.
Media viewing rooms and video/dvd viewing stations are located on the second and third floors. However, librarians note that they need to find more media viewing space, especially for groups. A video conferencing seminar room is available on the lower level. As a part of a Mellon Grant, it is currently being utilized to teach computer science classes to students at Connecticut College, Wesleyan University and Trinity College. The Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room serves as a quiet retreat for scholarship and reflection. It also provides a cultural area for campus programs, seating 50-60 people.
The Visual Resources Library is located in the Cummings Art Center and is staffed by the Visual Resources Librarian who is part of the Instructional Technology Team. The Shain Library is a wireless environment
As mentioned above, the College decided to merge the Library and Information Technology Departments in 1995 to form Information Services. Information Services is administered by the Vice President for Information Services and Librarian of the College (W. Lee Hisle). The VP's office is located on the main level of the Library building. Services included in this merger are libraries, instructional technology/academic computing, networking, web development, technical support/administrative computing, media services, and telecommunications. With 10 years of operating as a merged team, Information Services at Connecticut College has achieved a full functional integration of all information support services. Organizationally, Information Services has five functionally based teams -- Instructional Technology, Research Support and Instruction, Information Resources, Technical Support, and Special Collections & Archives. Each team has a director and is further divided operationally as necessary to support job tasks and services. For a full breakdown of their organizational structure, please refer to the organization and staffing chart found at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/orgchart.html. Although the merger is fully realized, the staff realizes that changes in their organizational structure will continue to occur as needed to support new services and technologies. As a combined unit, Information Services publishes an Annual Plan each year that includes a mission and vision statement, Major Accomplishments for the past year, major objectives for the upcoming year and an IS "watch list" Information Services Publications are available at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/info-resources/publications.html. This plan strategically fits into the college's mission and goals. One example is Information Service's role in renovating classroom spaces on campus. They are taking a holistic approach, renovating each classroom to be a modern flexible space for teaching and learning. These highly equipped and ergonomically designed spaces allow for curriculum enhancement through the use of technology-based resources and active learning. Although they are organizationally merged, some services and staff need to be physically located outside of the Library building. The organizational structure is essential for bringing everyone who provides information services together. For the most part, librarians and information technology staff work side by side within the Library. Collaboration and Partnerships Collaboration is key to Information Services at Connecticut College. Physical co-location has improved collaboration between the library and information technology staff because it allows staff time and space to build relationships and mutual trust. Both librarians and information services staff work together on projects such as GIS, the Digital commons, the Digital Enhanced Learning Initiative, and Information Literacy. Particularly noted both by staff and in their Annual Plan, is the melding of job responsibilities between librarians and instructional technologists in developing web-based instructional programs. Their Mission Statement, found Information Services Annual Plan (http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=isannplan) is "Keeping you CONNected: Partnering with the college community to provide, innovative, reliable, and universal access to information resources in support of academic and administrative endeavors." Their plan indicates partnerships with the Office of Administration on the Classroom Improvement Plan, with the Center for Teaching and Learning for faculty development activities such as the Temple Summer Institute, with College Relations in developing the College's web presence, and with the Career Enhancing Life Skills department to support ePortfolio. Staffing and Training As discussed above, staff is organized into five functional teams. (see organizational chart at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/orgchart.html) Because they have worked as a merged environment for so long, staff are comfortable and happy with the current organizational structure. Impact on Collections In implementing the facilities for the services described above, Connecticut College has had to weed, move, and sometimes separate collections. They joined the Five College Consortium in Massachusetts as an associate member. This allowed them to keep access rights to a repository of JSTOR titles and allowed them to weed their print collection of titles available via JSTOR. Off-site journal storage was carefully implemented with faculty input. The bound serial collection also needed to be split between two floors. Currently they are investigating purchasing space at the NELINET Storage Facility to house their pre-1980 science journals. The reference collection has been heavily weeded as they rely more on electronic reference sources. Some of the reference collection was also moved to a different floor. Reference & Instruction Services In implementing an Information Commons environment, Connecticut College has continued to maintain the integrity of their reference services as a separate service desk. Reference Services fall under the Research Support and Instruction Team which is primarily composed of M.L.S. Librarians. Professional librarians have strong liaison responsibilities. Each librarian is a liaison to up to four departments and is responsible for collection development, instruction, research consultations, and partnering with faculty in their departmental areas. Information Literacy & Technological Literacy in the Commons Environment Information literacy initiatives are enhanced with the combined expertise from instructional technologists and librarians. Working together with faculty they can find ways to modify course assignments to enhance student learning outcomes. Easy physical access to web developers provides the technological expertise to mount online tutorials. Information Services offers a host of technology instruction workshops. The technology instruction schedule can be viewed at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/training/seminars/. Tempel Summer Institute provides 10 faculty with a two-week program to develop skills for integrating technology into teaching and learning. Faculty receive stipends for attending. More information is available at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/academic-tech/tsi/ DELI - Digital Enhanced Learning Initiative is designed for freshman seminar classes to see how new technologies, such as ipods and digital cameras, can enhance their academic experience. Virtual Environment Connecticut College's Libraries have a Digital Commons, provides IM virtual reference and participate in the Info Anytime service offered through the CT Library Consortium. Online help guides and information literacy tutorials are found via the Library's web site at http://www.conncoll.edu/is/info-resources/researchtools.html Assessment Last year the College participated in the MISO (Merged Information Services Organizations) survey and will likely continue to participate every other year. Survey populations were all faculty, all staff except IS staff, and 700 randomly selected students. The MISO survey had a 60%-70% response rate. They also participated in the LibQual Survey in 2004, but found that their respondents couldn't really separate their library responses, since they think of the Library and Information Services as one organization. The Library also utilize the Core Data elements available through Educause and is a member of the Oberlin group, allowing them to compare themselves with other peer institutions. Assessment by way of focus groups was built into the first year's implementation of the Digital Enhanced Learning Initiative (DELI) for freshman students. Each student participating in the program was given an ipod or a digital camera. They could keep the technology as long as they agreed to participate in focus groups all four of their undergraduate years. Lessons Learned Merging the two departments raised everyone's technological awareness and eventually help them to get past the "us" and "them" phase. Be flexible and don't try to force relationships, allow time and space and wait for them to develop. Physically placing staff in the same environment builds relationships and breakdowns silos. As an administrator in a merged environment, Find common work for people to do collaboratively. Teams and organizational structure will continue to evolve over time to support Information Services functions as they keep pace with changing technologies and services. Observations Informing Best Practices A separate service desk for Reference and Technical Support works well at this institution. The nature of questions is vastly different and requires different expertise, space and levels of conversation. It would be ill advised for either a Reference Librarian to pursue in depth technical support questions involving hardware and software or for a technician to attempt to answer reference queries and provide even a basic level of research support. It takes time for an organization to evolve. Staff indicated that new initiatives also take time to develop. Based on user feedback, spaces, training initiatives, and services are constantly adjusted to better suit the needs of the user. Having people work together in a shared physical space forces collaboration and shared problem solving. Seeing each other on a daily basis builds trust and stronger working relationships. The Cafe offers an excellent opportunity for students to study together in groups and socialize in the library. This was observed to be a highly popular place in the library. Though this institution did offer a few areas for collaborative group work, staff indicated that they were in very high demand and that they needed to find more space for collaborative group study.
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