Information Commons and Learning Commons Site Visits

 

Site Visit:	Dickinson College - Waidner-Spahr Library
Contacts:	Robert Renaud, VP and Chief Information Officer, Library and Information Services (LIS)
Web Site:	http://lis.dickinson.edu/Library/
Organizational Structure:	Merged Library and Information Technology Departments in 2004
Date of Visit:	March 23, 2007

Overview

Dickinson College is a highly selective, four year undergraduate liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with an FTE of 2255 undergraduates and 208 faculty members. The library has roughly 500,000 volumes.  As a merged unit, LIS (Library and Information Services) has a staff of 71 staff members with 10 librarians. The technology and library staff are spread out over four locations on campus. In 1998, the Spahr Library was renovated and they added the Waidner building.  Architects were  Perry, Dean, and Rogers.  the newly renovated building has large and airy curving spaces designed to bring out the natural limestone, white trim, and marble throughout the building.  The renovation was complete before they began the Information Commons.

Table seating with Thomas Moser designed Dickinson Chairs	Comfortable seating areas are found throughout

Dickinson's Information Commons, which opened in 2002 and was expanded in 2003, was a joint project of Information Technology and the Dickinson College Library.  After a careful and structured planning process, they decided to locate the Information Commons on the library's lower level because it was an under-utilized part of the building.  It has become so popular that new traffic patterns have emerged because of it. The Commons has been evolving ever since its inception. Although it serves a variety of functions and is very popular with students, the goal is to have it recognized as the Digital Scholarship Center on Campus with faculty and students working together in this space.  They would also like to expand the concept of the Information Commons throughout Campus. 

L - shape of Information Commons on Lower Level	Spacious work stations in the Commons

Description of Services and Facilities

The Information Commons on the lower level houses 36 computer workstations, each with plenty of space for collaboration and study materials. It is designed to be open and spacious with clean and simple lines that are in keeping with the renovation of the library in 1998.  Each workstation has custom designed furniture and is intended for one to two users.  In addition to a personal computer with a DVD/CD-RW drive, each workstation is equipped with scanner and Microsoft Office, Internet browsing software, and Dreamweaver.  There is also a Kurzweil reader for students with visual disbilities.

In the Information Commons area there are two support units, a Library Services Desk which is at the far end of the Commons area.  This Service desk offers quick information, directional assistance, deals with printer issues, and serves as a second circulation desk since this level also serves as a second entrance to the library.  Technology User service offices are located inside a glass wall that overlooks the Information Commons computers.  Although they don't have an open technology support desk, students are free to ask for support in the desk area behind this glassed wall. They have found that the Information Commons does not require a high level of technology support.  All technicians that support desktop use on campus have offices in this area.

A very cool application of the technology in this area is a ceiling mounted projector which can be used to project video from the campus cable television network, inform students of upcoming events and new products, and to identify the location of available computers in the Library.  As students login, other users can see what computes are in use and where they may find an available workstation. 

The Alden Collaborative Learning Space has six Macintosh computers and plenty of  custom designed space for collaborative work.  The design of the furniture coupled with large screen monitors makes it a very comfortable collaboration workspace for up to four students.  This area is also a comfortable space for small group instruction, and can be used by students and faculty working together on digital scholarly projects.

Several tables are also available in the Commons area.

Largest area of the Commons -- User services for technology support in glassed offices on right side.	Closer View of Workstations in Information Commons
Projection showing available computers in the Library	Alden Room -- Mac Instructional Space on lower level -- off from Info Commons
Library Service Desk near Info Commons	User Services Offices near Info Commons
Table seating in Commons Area

Above the Information Commons, on the Main Level of the Library there are traditional reference services along with a mini information commons area and the main Circulation/Reserves Desk.  The reference desk is strategically placed to greet the user as they enter the reference area. Because of the popularity of the Info Commons on the level, they wanted to bring additional workstations into the reference area to increase traffic and provide reference assistatnce. There is room at this desk for research consultation, but otherwise it's size is kept small to appear welcoming and not act as a barrier to the reference area.

Mini Commons in Reference Area	C
4 Quick Look-up Computer Stations are attached to one wall in reference	Close-up of Quick Look-up computer.

The Circulation and Reserves Service Desk is on the other side of the Library's Main Entrance.  Though both desks can be seen by the user upon entering the library, the desks are not in sight view of one another.  The Circulation Desk is expansive and low in height, and houses reserves behind it.

Circulation Desk	Circulation Desk

A Multimedia room for video/dvd viewing and audio listening are conveniently located near the library's media and music collections.  There are 13 Group Study rooms -- all media equipped, with whiteboards, and wireless. They can be reserved online.

Multimedia Room	Multimedia Room
Group Study Room	Group Study Room

Waidner-Spahr Library makes excellent use of displays and signage throughout.  Magnetic Signage is flexible and can be changed as needed.  Many display units are on wheels, allowing them to move to different areas of the building.

Library Signage System	Seating near New Book Display
Portable Display	Two Portable Display Units
Faculty Display surrounding Staircase

Governance and Strategic Fit

The Information Commons evolved from the realization that although the building was beautifully renovated, it was being not being utilized because technology and service points were too dispersed throughout the building and confusing to the user.  The Information Commons was a joint project of Information Technology and the Dickinson College Library that involved a strategic and structured planning process.  They put together two task forces in this planning phase:  the analysis team and the review team.  This approach and careful analysis gained them funding support from the College. (for more informatiion about this process, see Space and Purpose:Repositioning the Liberal Arts College Library by Robert E. Renaud at http://apps.nitle.org/transformations/?q=node/97) Because of the rapid increased use in technology, the College decided to merge Library and Information Services in 2004.  At this time the Library Director was promoted to VP & CIO. Today, the Vice President and Chief Information Officer oversees all library and information services staff and operations and reports to the President of the College.  A new Library Director has been hired and reports to this VP.  Although the VP oversees the Information Commons, its facility is managed by the Library and Academic Technology Services Department and is headed by the Director of Academic Technology Services.

Collaboration and Partnerships

Although they do not consider them a partner, The Writing Center is located within the Library which spatially seems to work for students.

Communications

Because staff are spread out over four locations on campus, they make extensive use of various methods of electronic communication.  A Blog, using Drupal Shareware program, helps keep everyone informed and displays grouped information in Clouds so you can easily identify frequent users and topics.

Intellectual/Cultural Spaces

There are several spaces available within the library that offer spaces for small programs, receptions and seminars.  One that is frequently used is the East Asian Seminar Room.  There is also a reception area as one enters the lower level before crossing into the Information Commons.

East Asian Seminar Room - Main Level	Reception & Display area on Lower Level

Impact on Collections

Because of the large amount of space available to them -- 126,000 square feet, the Information Commons has had very little impact on their collections.  They do, however, have 80,000 volumes in off-site storage.

Information Literacy & Technological Literacy in the Commons Environment

They have an aggressive liaison program at Dickinson that pairs one librarian and one academic technologist to work within each academic department on campus.  Each Freshman Year Seminar class has a librarian assigned to work in partnership with the faculty member teaching the seminar.  A new library classroom has offered new opportunities for faculty and librarians to work together.

Spacious Library Classroom with stadium style seating	Each Computer is equipped with two chairs

Virtual Environment

All LIS staff make extensive use of a blog. Drupal shareware that supports Clouds allows them to visually see which faculty members utilize LIS services the most.   The Teaching Center Without Walls is a virtual environment where people can share ideas with one another and post presentations, etc.  They also offer email and chat reference.

The Dickinson Electronic Initiative in the Liberal Arts (DEILA) is a very important component of the virtual environment.  DEILA is a faculty driven initiative that serves as an umbrella organization for scholarly digital projects at Dickinson. a list of their projects is available at http://deila.dickinson.edu/projects.htm

Dickinson has an extensive digital archive in which they have digitized many of their special collections -- diaries, books, etc.  They have over 45,000 pages in this archive and have received over 300 off-campus email reference inquiries about these digitized archives.  With these digitization projects librarians are playing a direct role in the creation of scholarly information.

Special Collections	Special Collections Room

Assessment

They have not done specific assessment for the Information Commons, but general statistics for the library indicate a marked increase in activity, especially in reference.  They have completed both MISO and LibQual.

Lessons Learned

• Project was too rushed -- built in 6 weeks.  Take more time to think about what you want to accomplish and think in terms of the whole building.  They had a vision for the Center for Digital Scholarship and more faculty-student collaboration, but the Information Commons as it is now, does not seem to address that vision.

• Although the IC today exists as a discrete space, they would like it to eventually characterize the whole building and co-exist with print collections.  The goal will be to transform from physical space within the library to the more holistic library program.

• Pay attention to what impact the of the Information Commons will have on the whole library -- do not see it solely as a physical facility with a defined purpose.

• Try to understand that putting an Information Commons in one location is going to affect traffic in the rest of the building.  The popularity of the Information Commons drew traffic away from the reference area, so they ended up putting a "mini commons" in reference.

• The level of demand created by the IC was beyond their library staffing resources.

• Need to find a balance between your vision and what faculty practically want.

• Hire staff that is pro-active.

• Plan for assessment.  Having assessment tools in place before opening the IC can help with future funding requests.

• The Information Commons doesn't have one owner, everyone must work together for its proper functioning.

• The Commons needs a Coordinator

• The Information Commons is constantly evolving.  Changes cost money.

Observations Informing Best Practices

• Think about how the Information Commons will change the library's program -- not just how it will exist as a physical space or separate facility.

• Find a balance between vision and what faculty practically want

• Be prepared to keep changing your Information Commons because each new change will bring forth the need for new changes to fill unanticipated needs.

• An Information Commons only requires a low level of technology support but demands create need for more staff.

• Have assessment tools in place before opening the IC - you will need to find additional funding as the project evolves.