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What I think the Learning Commons will mean
to the University is really huge.
It will become almost a heart of the University,
a recognizable place for students, faculty and staff
at the center point of the campus.
And we really thought of this project as a living room for the campus,
and this was an idea that really kind of
saturated the whole design process.
And so we gathered information and data from students
and from other stakeholders.
And we looked at best practices within other academic libraries,
and the Learning Commons was the result of all that.
I think the value that the Learning Commons will
bring to the University is fairly profound.
That old puritan, New England notion of a common space
where you sort of share usage together and
you come together to share productivity
and work together on projects.
It’s a way of restoring the idea of a democratic space
where people can work together
and collaborate on their successes.
The Learning Commons is making available partnerships
such as the Learning Resource Center,
Information Technology Division,
and even the Freudian Sip coffeehouse.
So the change from Reference Room to
Learning Commons I'd say,
is like an advancement that reflects the
revolution of print to digital,
and the fact that you just have more space in the digital environment.
So why shouldn't your building reflect that?
Some of the innovative features in the Learning Commons include
accessibility to mobile technology such as
iPads and e-readers,
other kinds of tablets that students can check out.
And then in addition to that,
there'll be some new service points
that they will see in the presence of an I.T. help service point
within the first-floor Learning Commons,
so if they're having problems connecting to the network,
anything with their wireless configuration,
they can ask right there.
There will be special computer furniture
that will allow us to put in our new desktop computers.
We will also have many places where students can bring
their own devices to plug in and learn together.
These days we talk about the flipped classroom
and what we’re talking about here really is the flipped library.
In the flipped library is when we move
to the situation where
we allow students to access information publicly off-campus
but maximize their opportunity
to work together on campus.
Library faculty librarians will be available at our service desk
to assist students who walk up with anything from,
"Where is this located?" to
"How do I find this particular article or book?"
The Learning Resource Center supports student achievement
by providing tutoring,
and to a lesser degree mentoring services,
in a number of subject areas.
We’re really excited about having
the Learning Resource Center housed
in the library because it allows us to have real
synchronicity with the library’s own programming.
Having a coffeehouse in the library
I think is a huge benefit
to the students, faculty, and staff.
It’s a meet and greet place,
people can come and sit and dine, study, and continue
on their day within the walls of the library.
Students will really be able to have
a whole new space.
New spaces are just basically exciting!
It serves education purposes.
It serves social purposes.
It serves comfort purposes.
So you have nice high utility value,
socially adaptable space,
and it’s great.