The University Library The University Library Bringing the

The University Library.

The University Library. Bringing the Information Commons home. Philippa Levy Director, Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences Martin Lewis Director of Library Services & University Librarian

The University Library. Built on a hunch.

The University Library. The right building. At the right time.

The University Library. Open For Fresh Thinking.

The University Library. What we’ll explore 1. The drivers 2. The business case 3. The design 4. The partnership 5. CILASS and inquiry-based learning

The University Library. What we’ll explore 6. New spaces, new learning, new teaching 7. The impact 8. The Information what? 9. Back home

The University Library. The drivers

• shortage of study spaces compared with competitors • many study spaces high density and low quality • anachronistic design of 1959 Western Bank Library • spatial separation of library study places and PC clusters • HE funding council programme for capital investment in learning and teaching • growth of library e-content and virtual learning environment • recognition that Library and IT service in the same business of supporting student learning

The University Library. The business case

Building a business case • a $50 M investment in the student learning experience • conventional NPV analysis difficult for library buildings • impact of loss of future student recruitment • National Student Survey began to focus attention on the student experience • Zero net collections growth

collection size actual Gradient reduces as monograph disposals and eonly journal intake increase theoretical 2003 2006 t

The University Library. The design

Fig 1: How to ruin a perfectly good table.

fifty years of progress in automotive ergonomics photo: Telstar. Logistics

fifty years of progress in automotive ergonomics

IC: progress with study space ergonomics 1500 mm 2 4. 2 m

extensive use of plasma screens for signage

Group study rooms Visually open Good acoustic performance

are more interesting

The IC Flexispace®

internal views

external views

double and triple height spaces

acoustically isolated volume

silence

classrooms two classrooms Sympodium technology available as study space when not booked

study environment variety

IC study space typology (project) 1. open plan individual study desk (c 70% with PC) 2. silent study space individual study desk 3. open plan group work tables 4. open plan group work pods 5. informal seats (open plan and silent study) 6. enclosed group study rooms 7. Flexispace places 8. classroom places 9. cybercafe places

Missing study place types 10. silent study space with desktop PC 11. silent study space with laptop provision • the IC has been flexible enough to accommodate both these new types Requirement varies with time as well as space • additional silent space zoned before examinations cross-classification in typologies • several dimensions to consider

cosy corner hardwired desktop noisy semi-enclosed ambient quiet open plan laptop/wireless no IT silent individual class group

business units same location on every level print / copy / scan / card value load / book issue high performance acoustic enclosure

light, space and colour

northern light

mirror lights

subdued background lighting 150 lux task lighting delivers 300 lux to desktop and shelves

cosy not clinical at night

The University Library. The partnership

Rhiannon’s story.

Rhiannon’s story (2002) It’s 6 pm on November 28, 2007, it’s sleeting, and Rhiannon Jones is late. As a level 2 undergraduate in molecular biology, she has two days to hand in her long essay on respiratory electron transfer for Dr Mitchell, and she’s hardly started on it…. …As Rhiannon rounds the corner, her eye is caught by the floodlights on the site of the old Jessop Hospital, where work is underway on the new academic complex, with its striking glass tower. In front of her is the entrance to the Tube, as students call the Information Commons, a reference to its bold convex Upper Hanover Street elevation, the part-glass wall forming a continuous curve with the roof…

The Information Commons brief • not a linear progression from end-user needs to brief to building; only partly evidence-based • some informed (inspired? ) guesswork and extrapolation • quantification of study place shortfall • brief agreed in late 2002 (over four years before opening) … she sees a large information panel headed “Welcome to the Information Commons”. Part of this is an electronic display flashing up today’s news, which seems to be about a new online database on American history. There’s also a section headed “where to study”, with graphic depictions of the IC’s layout. She sees from this that the IC is divided into several small zones, with a variety of different study environments on its three public levels, differentiated by colour.

Key phrases The Information Commons will provide an integrated learning environment for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students; a space where they can study individually or in groups, using print and electronic materials; and with access to IT facilities, support and advice, and related services. It will take account of current and projected learning methods and technologies; and be capable of accommodating new technologies that have not yet been demonstrated. The IC should be capable of 24 x 7 operation and availability. …Few users are visible, although when Rhiannon walks into the area with pale mauve partitions, she sees that most of the seats are occupied. She’s pleasantly surprised by the spacious desks, most of them designed for single occupancy, and the orientation of the partitions means that the space doesn’t feel regimented…

Key phrases The LRC should meet the study and learning needs of today's students and, as far as possible, those of the future, without being constrained by the vocabularies of existing academic buildings. …Rhiannon has a vague recollection of Dr Mitchell running these animations during one of his lectures last month, but it’s only now that she has a chance to replay and pause them, and change the viewing angle, that understanding dawns. Re-reading the relevant chapter in Biochemistry now, she finds that it makes a lot more sense…

Supporting techniques • Rhiannon’s story - the narrative short story as a briefing tool. • semantic differentials (Lawson) based on personal construct theory • visits and desk (web) research • creative use of images with architects to stimulate debate and elicit client response …she decides to take a peek at level 3. As she enters from the staircase, she senses a different environment from level 2 – the area is still subdivided with screens, but here there are larger tables with six to eight seats … she notes that group work is in progress around many tables. Muted conversation is obviously allowed, although the screens break up the noise, and the overall effect is still conducive to study. . .

Semantic differentials • exterior X interior

Images that inspired us

Images that inspired us

• 11 500 m 2 gross area • 7 800 m 2 net internal area • 1 300 study places • 550 PCs • 110 000 books • seven floors

CILASS and inquiry-based learning level 1 Information Commons

http: //www. shef. ac. uk/cilass

inquiry-based learning (ibl) ‘inner biology’: the inquiry method of teaching biology staff. washington. edu/jshaver/innerbiology/

The IBL process

S. Webber, Uo. S IBL and Web 2. 0 Sheila Webber, 2008 S. Webber, Uo. S

Why IBL? “I've picked up things from that module - just things like, you can answer 'no' rather than 'yes'; different ways of looking at things from different angles rather than just your textbook and 'this is what someone says' […] It's like, thinking for yourself, and asking different questions, and different ways of analyzing things and going through processes, rather than just looking at books”.

aligned assessment ‘process support’ activities & resources learning technologies inquiry task subject information resources & strategies learning spaces tutoring & peer support Designing and Facilitating IBL

CILASS themes • Collaborative inquiry and inquiry communities • Information literacy development • Networked inquiry • Interdisciplinary inquiry • Classrooms as research environments (“collaboratories”)

New spaces, new learning, new teaching

CILASS Collaboratory 1 40 students fixed collaborative workstations 3 breakout rooms display connectivity huddleboards and copycams interactive whiteboard seamless access to IC resources level 1 Information Commons

CILASS Collaboratory 2 36 students flexible tables laptops and tablets huddleboard and copycam interactive whiteboard videoconferencing (AGN) ‘write-on’ wallpaper seamless access to IC resources level 1 Information Commons

Further CILASS facilities

The University Library. The impact

A ‘theory of change’ Resources & Enablers Activities & Processes Desired Outcomes Stimulus and support Staff and students for IBL projects & engage in IBL programmes development, experimentation & innovation Learning & teaching at Uo. S are enhanced “Provision & promotion of new central learning spaces & technologies, and user support” “The benefits of new spaces & technologies for learning & teaching are such that there is intensive use & demand” “Staff use new spaces & technologies in their IBL teaching, & develop skills in using them”

Lecturers’ goals

Things to do in a CILASS space • get organised • get in a huddle • tête-à-tête • go to the movies • use big floor • go to the IC • log on • create • music & voice • hold the main event based on: Richard Steadman-Jones & Duco van Oostrum

What’s valued? • • • Flexibility Technology Informality Intimacy Openness Movement Freedom Intensity Flow Students say… • “CILASS room fantastic technology here was really great, made it far more interesting than other seminars” • “Learning has finally come into the 21 st century! The new technology has opened my eyes to exciting new ways to examine literary texts” Staff say… • “The perfect opportunity to get students working with research materials” • “Inviting, technologically advanced and perfect for group-work”

What lecturers observe about students • More participative • More confident • More relaxed • More independent • More digital • More in control • More respected • Developing skills • More engaged

Pedagogical reflection and experimentation • [I really like] the opportunity to use the CILASS space and rethink the pedagogy, I’ve made a number of changes that make the course much more inquiry-based • It’s made me think about inquiry-based learning; [the spaces] allow you to think flexibly so I’ve been doing teaching that I never would have done in a normal seminar room

Changed learning-teaching relationships • “They’re [students] also much more confident, I think, with me. It changed the nature of the relationship between myself and the students, I’m much more one of the group and they treat me much more as one of the group rather than the lecturer. In these new spaces, I’m a researcher like them”

Information literacy development • “It’s enabled me to really get to see what the students are doing when they’re doing their inquiry, rather than it’s sort of happening all outside the classroom when you’re just not aware of what they’re finding difficult or finding easy. So I could see how effective their information searching was, I could do something about making it better”

IC usage • usage figures (visits and occupancy) show approx 50% increase for all University Library sites including IC compared with pre-IC • mean visit length to IC is around 3 hours • longest stay is 6 days! • 1 135 695 visits in first year of operation: as many visits as all other sites combined in 2006 • 19. 8% of visits are by postgraduates (PGT + PGR) • Western Bank Library visits (not occupancy) have declined by 50%

Things we’ve learned • the IC and similar buildings elsewhere about space and learning and community, not technology • students using advanced mobile lightweight wireless devices still need to sit down • adopt pedagogy-led approach to space design • involve teachers and students at design stage • …but …. but

CILASS reciprocal influences ? ? ? student bookstock networked learning capacity styles Library L&T strategy reciprocal influences Information Commons planning reciprocal influences University L&T strategy 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

More things we’ve learned • facilitate exchange of emerging practice to optimise the added value of new spaces • usage of imaginative high-quality learning spaces shows that there is huge unmet demand • as contact time reduces, independent and collaborative learning spaces become more important, not less • meeting that demand will improve the student experience, learning outcomes and pedagogical practice

Spaces are themselves agents for change. Changed spaces will change practice Diana Oblinger, 2006 You can’t be sure how these spaces will be used. You’re just creating the opportunities for things to happen. Tom Finnigan, Director of Learner Support, Learning Services, Glasgow Caledonian University

Bring good design, excitement and imagination into learning spaces, and the students will vote with their feet – and with their brains! Levy and Lewis. Now.

The University Library. The Information what?

The University Library. Back home

Sheffield England

The University of Sheffield • a Times Higher world top 100 university (#76) • founded 1905 • ranked #6 in the UK in last research assessment exercise • a member of the UK’s Russell Group of research-intensive universities

Information Commons art by Bob Brighton

Picture credits • • • The University of Sheffield RMJM architects avanti architects Toyota GB plc Ian Spooner Sean Bloodworth Broadstock Office Furniture limited Helix Associates and the HELIX project, for the use of images from the Helix database The Hulton Getty Picture Collection, for the use of images included in the Helix database Flickr members for the use of images licensed under a Creative Commons sharealike license: • • • paolo màrgari Gemma Longman Telstar Logistics William Warby underclassrising

References • Brew, A. (2006). Research and Teaching: beyond the divide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. • Metille, C. (2008). Impact Evaluation of CILASS Learning Spaces. MA Dissertation, Dept. of Information Studies, University of Sheffield. • Oblinger, D. (2006) Space as a change agent. In: Oblinger, D. (ed. ) Learning Spaces. [Online]. Boulder: EDUCAUSE. http: //www. educause. edu/learningspaces