Information Update - Fall 2013

Generous Donations Support New Technology and Learning Commons

After a successful fundraising campaign in celebration of the Library’s 20th Anniversary for the 2012-2013 school year, the Weinberg Memorial Library has been able to implement several changes with even more improvements planned for the future. In the Pro Deo room next to Java City, we have installed a multi-touch table, the Ideum Platform 46 Coffee Table (http://ideum.com/redefined/). The funds for the Ideum Platform were generously provided by Alan Griffith, class of ‘76. This multi-touch table has 60 touch points and allows users to interact with digital objects like photographs, maps, graphs, games, and more. One can, for example, view historical campus photographs from our digital collections to see what the campus was like in the past. The Platform 46 is built with chemically strengthened glass and aircraft-grade aluminum and runs Windows 8. The Library will be exploring new applications and programs to run on the device and looks forward to hearing from students and faculty about what they would like to use on the table. More technologically savvy students may even be able to build applications to be installed and used on the touch table. The Library has added new furniture specifically with the Platform 46 Coffee Table in mind. The lower seating and ottomans with flexible configuration should make using the device as comfortable as possible. Also with the relocation of several of the study carrels with computer workstations from the Pro Deo room to the Reilly Learning Commons and the moving of several café tables with stools into the Pro Deo room, there will be more of a coffee shop vibe near Java City for group discussions and collaboration.
 
The Library has added new furniture specifically with the Platform 46 Coffee Table in mind. The lower seating and ottomans with flexible configuration should make using the device as comfortable as possible. Also with the relocation of several of the study carrels with computer workstations from the Pro Deo room to the Reilly Learning Commons and the moving of several café tables with stools into the Pro Deo room, there will be more of a coffee shop vibe near Java City for group discussions and collaboration.
 
The Library’s 20th Anniversary Capital Campaign has been a wonderful success.  A special thank you goes to the generous gift from the Joseph C. Reilly estate which has been dedicated to the opening of the Reilly Learning Commons on the first floor of the Weinberg Memorial Library.  Mr. Reilly served as custodian at The University of Scranton from 1949 to 1992, and The University gratefully recognizes and celebrates his contribution. This 24-hour room will evolve over the next several years as the space is infused with collaborative seating and interactive technology. Plans are in the works for building an instruction room for groups of up to 15 people to do presentations, videoconference, and teach in a smaller setting than our standard classrooms. This room will incorporate technology such as lecture capture, shared laptop projection onto large monitors, and webcams. The room will include white boards and comfortable seating as well. Students will use the space to practice and record presentations to save to e-portfolios or electronically share with their professors and classmates.
 
The Reilly Learning Commons will also feature larger computer workstations so students have extra space to open textbooks, tablets, and other electronics while working on projects. The larger desks may also allow students to work in small groups at one computer without scrunching together. Furthermore, the Library also plans to retrofit existing group study rooms with new technology so students can plug in their laptops and project them onto large monitors and easily switch between devices. This will allow students to seamlessly work together on group projects or tutor one another with their coursework.
 
Another plan for the Learning Commons is to offer programs and services within the space. Staff from the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, the Writing Center, and the Technology Support Center could be available within the space to offer tutoring and tech support, thus providing services to students at the point of need with a one-stop location for students’ research, writing, and learning. The Library could also host programs proposed, planned, and implemented by students with student led training on new technology, software and gadgets. The new Learning Commons has great potential to become an organic learning space for students to take ownership and teach one another based on their expertise.
 
Flexibility will be a key issue as technology and student needs evolve in the future. The Library will continue to listen to our students and explore other libraries’ learning commons and the services and technology they offer for ideas to implement in this area. It will be exciting to see how students interact with these changes and utilize the new spaces in unexpected ways. Thanks to the 20th Anniversary fundraising campaign and the generous donors, the Weinberg Memorial Library has been able to implement these changes and plan for a future of continuing technological innovation supporting research, teaching, and learning.
 
For more information on the Weinberg Library’s 20th Anniversary campaign and/or how to make a contribution, please contact Charles Kratz, dean of the Library, at 570-941-4008 or charles.kratz@scranton.edu.
Sheli McHugh
Pride, Passion, Promise: Experience Our Jesuit Tradition