Who's Reading?

After writing this blog for over two years, I do wonder who's reading. I look at my stats of course, and get the occasional comment, but it's still interesting to ponder who's out there. Today I was notified that this blog was selected as one of the best 100 blogs for school librarians, so I guess someone out there must find my posts helpful.

I mentioned before that I'll be attending the ALA Annual Conference this weekend. Any readers in the area, please stop by the poster sessions on Sunday and say hi!

Article on the Hubbub

My former colleague in the Hub, Alice Wasielewski, has just written an article about our experiences from Hubbub 2007 and Hubbub 2008, our party in the library during freshman orientation week.

The article has just been published in the July/August 2009 issue of College and Research Libraries News. Way to go, Alice!

My Atlanta Learning Spaces Tour

Last month when I was in Atlanta for the Frye Leadership Institute, I had the opportunity to visit libraries and labs at both Emory University and Georgia Tech. The Cox Computing Center at Emory was so impressive, I already wrote about it and posted a few images over on the Translational Technologies blog. I really wanted to see the renovated Guy Chemistry Library at Emory as well, but our tour group asked so many questions at Cox that we never made it over there. Check out these photos of the Chemistry Library from one of my Frye colleagues.

Georgia Tech's commons had been one of our models for developing the Hub, so it was truly delightful to visit the space in person. Even though much of the west commons was closed for renovation, it was well worth the visit to see the rest of the space.

I had heard about the power strips hanging from the ceiling and the low lighting, but until I visited in person, I did not realize how useful this is, and how much it adds to the atmosphere at the same time. I learned that some of these panels require staff intervention to move, but it doesn't seem to inconvenience students too much when they need to rearrange the space to best meet their needs.

Admittedly I am not the best photographer (that's partly why most of the photos on this blog are from Alice), so you should check out these Georgia Tech photos from some of my Frye colleagues.

Library Help, IT Help

I got into an interesting discussion with a colleague recently about those signs we often see in commons environments: library help arrow this way, IT help arrow that way, even though both staff are sitting side-by-side at the same desk. You might as well draw a line down the floor. I could have used a photo to illustrate, but I didn't want to pick on anyone in particular.

Now tell me, why do we do this? Why do we make our user make a choice? Library patron: "Let's see, I'm having trouble using a library database but that might be because I've been having problems with my laptop. So do I go to the IT side or the library side? Gee, I sure don't want to look stupid so maybe I shouldn't go up to the desk at all."

Is it really that hard for us to hand off a question? I like to think we've got the art of handing off questions nailed in the Hub. Friendly staff member: "Oh sure, sounds like it might be an issue with your account. I bet Stacey here can help you with that when she's finished with a chat. So what do you think of our new coach?"

I have been opposed to those signs for quite some time. Admittedly, we did have one for a short time, but I quietly removed it. Both our IT and library staff sit under a giant Help sign with no differentiation. We should diagnose the problem and get our user to the expert, rather than make our user second-guess themselves. Let's make getting help as easy as possible for our users, not for us.

Photo by Alice Wasielewski

New Articles about the Commons

Special thanks to Russ Bailey for pointing out these recent articles on the commons:

“Piloting an information commons at HKUST Library,” Reference Services Review (37/2, 2009) pp. 178—189, by Gabrielle K.W. Wong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library, Hong Kong, China.

“The Information and Learning Commons: a selective Guide to sources,” Reference Services Review (37/2, 2009) pp. 190—206, by Tim Held, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, California, USA.

“Instruction and ‘The Commons’,” Educator’s Spotlight Digest (4/1, Spring/Summer, 2009), by Abby Kasowitz-Scheer, Syracuse University Library, USA.

Hubbin' at ALA

Not only will the Hub be featured in a poster session at ALA, we are also being honored with an ALA/LLAMA Best of Show award at the annual public relations materials "Swap and Shop." If you are in the ALA Exhibit Hall on Sunday, the awards will be presented 12:30-1:30 pm in the special events area.



This 30 second video, which is sort of a commercial for the Hub, was made possible by the generous contribution of time and talent from Patsy Carruthers and Kirk Laird in our campus Teaching and Academic Support Center. They are terrific folks to work with and now award winners to boot! I'm hoping to bring home a big trophy for Kirk, but at the very least, I can offer my thanks for a project well done.

Going to ALA?

If so, you should come by the poster sessions in the exhibit hall on Sunday, July 12, at 1 pm. Alice and I will be presenting the poster session: Causing a Hubbub: Hosting a Freshmen Orientation Extravaganza at the Library.

You'll learn about our experiences from Hubbub 2007 and Hubbub 2008, and I can tell you a little about what's in the works for August.

Stop by and see us!

It's All About Flexibility

I'm still catching up on my reading so I just now saw this Campus Technology article from the June issue, "It's All About Flexibility," which focuses on the new learning commons/technology center/library at Santa Clara University. The article includes a number of photos--I particularly like the use of whiteboard paint on the walls.

SLA Academic's First Programs

SLA Academic Division Roudtable / Unconference
Originally uploaded by kendrak

Last week at the SLA Annual Conference, the Academic division held its first roundtable/unconference meeting and its first annual business meeting. I was thrilled beyond words to see more than 50 academic librarians gathered for a lively unconference discussion. I participated in the commons table, of course, and gained several new commons contacts I probably would not have met otherwise. Special thanks to Amy, Kendra, and Meg for leading an outstanding series of discussions.

More than 30 SLA members attended the first annual business meeting of the division. It was so exciting to make history, and at the centennial conference, no less! As we had very little in the way of official business, we used the meeting as an open forum for ideas regarding the future of the division. I think just about everyone there wanted to join a committee or take a leadership role, so I know I will be leaving the division in good hands. At 225 members and counting, I think we are well on our way to establishing a valuable community for academic librarians.

Write About the Commons

College & Undergraduate Libraries has issued a call for articles on the commons environment. While I quibble a bit with the theme (how libraries are being transformed from an information commons to a learning commons), this is an excellent opportunity for readers to publish, and I look forward to the publication of this issue. Some of you may know that I don't have much patience for the discussion "is it an information commons or a learning commons" and "what is the difference between the two." I personally don't think the name matters, so long as you are providing the support, services, and environment needed for your students to succeed. Anyway, consider submitting a proposal to what should be an excellent issue.

Bringing the Community to the Commons

One of my colleagues had a great idea in using the Hub's video windows exhibit space to showcase art from local high school students. As we began planning the exhibit, we realized this could potentially be an excellent "town and gown" opportunity.

On Monday, May 11, we held the opening reception of "Art @ the Hub: an exhibition of art from Tates Creek High School students." Over 60 students and family members attended the opening reception, as well as UK recruiting staff and a few UK faculty members. We felt like the event was a success and plan to host a similar event next school year.

Next time we might feature a different high school on each "video window"--not only a good networking opportunity for young artists and high school faculty around town, it might also create some fun rivalries between windows. We need to debrief next week and develop our plan for the next exhibit, but I wanted to post a few photos in the meantime. More than one student asked me about the Hub or about UK in general, so I felt it was definitely worth it. In fact, one student plans to do the rest of his high school studying here because: "I'm really comfortable in this place."

Photos by UK PR

5 Tips for the Best Blog Posts

I don't like blog posts apologizing for why someone isn't blogging. Most likely I'm too busy to have missed you in my aggregator anyway so why draw attention to it?

It is true that I've been busy lately and have not had much time to write. I do only try to write posts that are interesting and helpful, so I especially appreciated Penelope Trunk's five tips for writing a blog post people love. Start strong, be short, be passionate, and more. Read the whole post.