The Scholars Commons: Customized Spaces and Services for Faculty & Graduate Students
Academic Learning Spaces Conference: Invention, (Re)Invention, and Innovation Monday, June 7, 2010
Demographics Florida State University • Carnegie Classification:
Research University/Very High Research Activity Graduate Instruction: Comprehensive Doctoral/MedVet
• • • •
41,065 students 8,557 graduate students 70+ PhD programs 1600 Faculty
The Way We Were
• Traditional organizational structure with separate reference, instruction, government documents, and collection development departments
Where We Were Few differentiated spaces in libraries for different types of users, work, or styles
Different opinions about noise, cell phone use, food & drink, social spaces
How We Changed • Restructured staff to provide services based on user groups – Undergraduate Services – Faculty & Graduate Research Services → Scholars Commons • Assessed needs and preferences of users • Renovated spaces to serve needs of user groups • Developed customized services for user groups
Restructured Staff to Serve Faculty and Graduate Students Scholars Commons – 8 librarians with subject specialties from different departments formed Scholars Commons faculty • Reference & Government Documents • Instruction • Collection development • Multimedia production – Team-management – Service desk staffed primarily by staff and students
Assessed User Needs & Preferences A variety of assessments provided information about faculty and graduate student research processes; satisfaction with current services, resources, and spaces; and unmet needs and desires • Quality Enhancement Review • Doctoral student surveys • LibQual • Focus Groups • Interviews with faculty • Large-scale graduate student study
What We Learned • Quiet spaces preferred for individual study • Collaborative spaces needed for group work • Faculty want opportunities to foster interdisciplinary research • Need for forums to share research • Need for ongoing updates on research tools for faculty and graduate students
Renovated Spaces: Strozier Ground Floor: Before
Strozier Ground Floor Renovation Plan
New Storage Space for Collections Maps, microform, reference and government documents were selected to be moved into compact shelving.
Common Area
New tables and seating make the common area more comfortable and inviting. Connectivity for wireless and electricity was enhanced.
Study and Collaborative Spaces
Study and Collaborative Spaces
Instructional Space
Classroom with laptops and moveable furniture that can be configured in multiple ways
Developed Customized Services • Take faculty services to faculty • Collaborate to create course-specific content in course-management systems • Partnerships with other campus units make services available in library • Programs bring together people from diverse academic departments
Developed Customized Services • • • •
Create specialized workshops and courses Extensive collection development work with faculty Librarians hold office hours in library Support promotion and tenure documentation
Moving Forward Continuing assessment of users Space reconfigurations in response to user needs Expanding services and identifying new ones Continuing to develop relationships with faculty Investigating collection and storage of data from faculty and graduate student research • Working with faculty on copyright and scholarly communication issues • • • • •
Panel Contact Information • Marcia Gorin, Florida State University, Scholars Commons, mgorin@fsu.edu • Gloria Colvin, Florida State University, Scholars Commons, gcolvin@fsu.edu