Tag: building

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ACRL ALA MPOW presentation

Building a 21st Century Learning Environment

Here’s the MASSIVE slideshow from the preconference I was a part of for ACRL at the ALA Annual Conference just this past weekend. I was thrilled to be able to present with the team from my library, including the Dean of the Library Theresa Liedtka, our Head of Reference & Instruction Virginia Cairns, our curmudgeonly but kind Assistant Dean & Head of Materials Processing Mike Bell, and our current ILS Manager & Web Technologies Librarian and former Head of Access Services Andrea Schurr. A powerhouse of a team, I think we gave a great preconference about the process behind our renovations and new building. It’s a massive file, but it was also nearly 7 hours worth of content. Enjoy!

Building a 21st Century Library

Categories
ACRL ALA presentation

Creating a 21st Century Learning Environment

I and the amazing team from my place of work (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) are leading a preconference for ACRL at the ALA Annual Conference 2010 in Washington DC entitled Creating a 21st Century Learning Environment. I’m incredibly excited about this, as we’ve worked for years to create amazing environments for our patrons, both in our existing building and in the planning for our new library building (opening in January 2012). I fully admit and embrace my bias for the way we do things (transparently, collaboratively, driven by data), I think that libraries who might not be as lucky could learn some things from us.

From the description of the preconference:

Successful 21st century academic libraries serve students holistically by meeting academic as well as other needs. This preconference will introduce participants to techniques and strategies for creating 21st century library environments and spaces, including the use of data-driven decision making and 2.0 technologies, the creation of broad avenues of input and partnerships, and the development of associated timelines and budgets. Examine library culture, services, technologies, and polices that enhance student learning, the benefits and pitfalls of campus collaborations, and address the nuts and bolts of renovation and building projects.

If you or anyone from your library is interested, registration is still open.

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Library Issues

Library Building 2.0

As a follow-up to my previous post discussing the current mania at MPOW regarding our new library building, I can now share with the world our wiki:

UTC Library Building Project

So far, I’m thrilled with the way this is coming together. Using 2.0 tools to put this project in motion has saved us enormous amounts of time, and just allowed us to do things that couldn’t have been done before. Tagging Flickr photos to let the designers know which chairs you like? Annotating video of your site visits so that the architect can see just what that reference area has that you want to mimic? Brilliant!

Anyway, we’re making this entire process as transparent as possible, to the point of actually rejecting mechanisms if they aren’t transparent. We’re committed, so it’s time to see what the rest of the world thinks.

We’re on track to complete our program plan in April. The external committee has just been formed, and will meet for the first time next week. Wish us luck, and let me know if you have a cool idea for us to use, or just tips for moving forward with the project.