Spring 2004 Feature

Annenberg Library and Office of Institutional Technology:

Partnership Creates Information Commons

Before last fall, students used basic computer labs on campus to access the Web for researching assignments, word processing, and printing. For questions or guidance, an appointment for a mentoring session with the Office of Institutional Technology would usually be necessary. Since September, however, students, faculty, and staff have enjoyed a new computing and learning space within the Annenberg Library.

The new Information Commons at the Annenberg Library Loft represents a blend of technology and library services that students frequently require, and includes the addition of an entirely new role—the Information Technology Librarian. Amy Stimac, the IT Librarian, has joined Pine Manor to help students acquire technology skills and combine them with online and traditional library research techniques.

“This is an exciting time to be providing IT and library services here at the College,” reports Stimac. "The way people seek, discover, and process information is evolving, and the Information Commons is an innovative response to the challenges that these changes bring.”

Amy Stimac received her dual BA in history and Spanish from Wellesley College and her MS in library and information science from Simmons College, where she focused on the information commons concept as an emerging practice in library services. She has drawn upon her graduate work to successfully guide, promote, and launch PMC’s new Information Commons.

The idea for this new approach to delivering technology and research services was a product of the recent NEASC reaccreditation process. Through work on a NEASC self-study committee, representatives from the Library and IT discovered that their organizations had similar missions, especially concerning student mentoring and training.

“Until this year,” commented IT Director Liam Roche, ”There was a traditional, unstaffed computer lab in the basement of the Library that students viewed as somehow separate from the Library both physically and functionally. The new Information Commons is completely integrated with the Library, just above the reference area. However, the real cornerstone of the effort is the addition of Amy Stimac as IT Librarian. Students can now have questions or problems resolved immediately, and a full-time technology mentor is available to help them with both computer-related needs and library research.”

After a summer of intense preparation, the Information Commons opened in time for the fall semester, quickly becoming one of the most popular areas of the campus. Many students drop in to check e-mail between classes, do online research, or simply pass the time before their next class.

“We have been very pleased with community reaction to this new model of service delivery and the phenomenal use of the IC,” stated Marilyn Smith Bregoli, Director of the Library. ” In addition to the Commons generally being packed, demand for reference services and library instruction classes has increased. It is very exciting for the Library to be involved in facilitating our students’ engagement in the active, collaborative learning that is so much a part of the College’s mission. “

One of Amy Stimac’s several roles is as “Web coach”: to provide general mentoring and one-to-one tutorials on Web site creation. When a particular course requires students to design a Web site, Amy creates the sites for the students and then conducts a classroom presentation introducing the Web creation process. Many of these students will visit Amy for an individual 1-hour session to get them started. Faculty also have these services available to them in the Information Commons or in their offices.

To accommodate the unexpected increase in demand for services (See “Usage Data”) at the IC, additional computers are planned this coming summer for around the Library. Some small groups of students use the Information Commons to collaborate on projects using one or two computers or the two study tables available to them in the Commons. Occasionally, you will also see a faculty member holding an impromptu “class” with a handful of students around a pair of computers.

At the opening reception of the Information Commons (from left), Amy Stimac, Information Technology Librarian; Liam Roche, Director of Institutional Technology; and Marilyn Bregoli, Director of the Annenberg Library.

“Although this is exactly the kind of work we want to encourage and facilitate, some students would like to have the option of working on a computer in a quieter, private area,” stated Bregoli. “We are looking into adding computers and video equipment to some of the small conference rooms, which can be used by individuals when the rooms are not booked. This is part of the wonderful challenge of integrating evolving services with traditional ideas of what a library should be. Is noise in a library a bad thing?”

The installation of the Information Commons allowed for the addition of two computers in the foyer of the Annenberg Communication Building, just outside the Learning Resource Center. This 24-hour study space provides computer access at any time, and is especially helpful when the Library is closed, or when commuting students are waiting for the shuttle. Previously, the only 24-hour computing space had been the 24-hour Lab on the other side of the campus.

The collaborative effort that resulted in the creation of the Information Commons has benefits beyond enhanced services for the community, according to Bregoli and Roche. It demonstrates the positive things that can happen when different groups combine resources for the common good in an atmosphere of risk.