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 & PreferencesA 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 CollectionsMaps, 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