The Information Commons: A Conceptualization and Vision for Collaborative & Interactive Learning
By David Leighton: Associate University Librarian, Westchester

The Concept

The Information Commons is an innovative paradigm for service delivery in academic libraries which is gaining national prominence and which focuses on the integration of information and technology services. The Commons combines flexible instructional settings and collaborative learning spaces with a full range of digital library resources, productivity software applications, and expert professional and technical assistance. Many libraries have adopted the Information Commons model to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience and thereby promote retention.

The Information Commons accommodates diverse learning styles, including formal classroom instruction, small group coaching, individual research consultation, and drop-in assistance. A hybrid skills team comprised of Reference and Instructional Librarians, Instructional Technologists, Student Technical Assistants, and Writing and Mathematics tutors provides a range of services within an organizational structure emphasizing inter-departmental coordination and distributed responsibility. Students are able to conduct research, obtain reference and tutorial assistance, write papers, tabulate data, design web-pages, develop e-portfolios, and collaborate in small groups on multimedia projects in a one-stop shopping mode.

The Information Commons Service Delivery Model seeks to integrate information literacy and library research skills, provide pedagogical and technical support for the effective uses of information technology, support active and collaborative learning, improve the quality of instruction and teaching materials through outcomes assessment, and develop autonomous lifelong learners. It is closely aligned with the University’s new Core Curriculum, the emerging Strategic Agenda, ACRL’s Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education, and the revised Middle States Criteria for accreditation, Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education: Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation.

At the present time we are assembling an Advisory Task Force, which will include a cross-section of key personnel from the Pace Library, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, Division of Information Technology, Center for Academic Excellence, Dyson Writing Center, plus faculty and student representatives to articulate a shared vision and formulate plans for the development, implementation, and staffing of a prototype Information Commons in the Mortola Library. What follows is a hypothetical description of how the Information Commons might look and operate when fully implemented.

The Vision of the Information Commons

It is exciting to imagine various scenarios transpiring simultaneously on any given day in the Mortola Library’s new integrated teaching and learning community or Information Commons. Students and faculty whether engaged in singular scholarly pursuits or group learning benefit from the juxtaposition and integration of technology-based library operations with multimedia production, technical support, and tutorial services and the coordinating mechanisms and staff deployment required to insure an optimum level of personalized service to the Pace community.

Upon entering the Commons, the Access Services Desk serves as the first line of contact and inquiry, and functions as the central distribution point for course reserves, circulating laptops, and all types of library materials, irrespective of the format. Access Services staff registers borrowers, orients new users to the Library, provides directional guidance to students and faculty, and processes requests for ILL/Document Delivery, media packages and associated hardware, and space reservations.

Immediately to the left of the Main Lobby is the Comprehensive User Services Desk, an open access physical arrangement and synergistic combination of Library reference, technical help, production support, and tutorial services to facilitate and promote collaborative and interactive learning. Reference and Instructional Services Librarians are highly visible and accessible, circulating among clusters of workstations, helping students select an appropriate database, formulate an effective search strategy, or interpret results. At the Reference Services Desk, Librarians direct students to valuable print sources from the nearby Reference Section, answer telephone and e-mail reference queries, monitor one or more of the Blackboard discussion forums, and participate in the Library’s expanded Live Help Chat Reference service.

Student Technical Assistants, a cadre of specially trained student workers cover the Technical Help Desk and traverse the Commons, diagnosing and remedying assorted hardware maladies and providing software support for MS Office Suite and other specialized software packages. A vital component of the Library’s workforce, Student Technical Services is a work-based learning program, with extensive technical training and professional growth opportunities, pioneered by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and other institutions. More complex questions regarding hardware or software applications which are beyond the expertise of STA support personnel are routinely handled by the Pace Library’s Systems Office or DOIT.

At regularly scheduled times or else by appointment, an Instructional Technologist from the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology is available for consultation at the Production Support Desk. Within the Information Commons certain high-end workstation configurations contain video editing equipment as well as computers and peripherals for capture, scanning, digitization, manipulation, transfer and output of information. An Instructional Technologist assists a student seated at one of the “super carrels” in creating a web page or works with several students collaborating on a group multimedia project.
CAE’s Tutorial Services and the Dyson Writing Center actively participate in providing academic support services at the Comprehensive User Services Desk. Writing experts and peer and graduate student tutors offer traditional tutoring in math, writing, and accounting as well as in core courses in economics, speech, chemistry, finance, and computer science in response to student demand. Perhaps today a Writing Center tutor is engaged in helping to clarify a syntax or semantic issue for a student who has completed her research and is now preparing an English composition. A mathematics tutor reviews some basic mathematical concepts and formulae with another student who is encountering difficulties with problem-solving methodologies.

As the centerpiece of the Library’s transformation into the “virtual” library, flexible and multi-functional workstations throughout the Commons provide seamless and ubiquitous access to bibliographic and full-text information, data, video [still and live], voice, application tools, and graphics. Students access the Pace Library catalog, curricular software, e-reserves, and the Internet. They research class-assigned topics by navigating an impressive array of digital reference resources, librarian-created online pathfinders and interactive tutorials, many embedded in Blackboard course shells. They initiate requests for interlibrary loan materials with electronic transmission of articles to their e-mail addresses. A trained professional from CAE’s Tutorial Services instructs a visually impaired student in the operation of a screen reader at one of the adaptive technology stations.

Several media suites and collaborate workrooms border the open lab environment. In one of the collaborative workrooms, a Reference Services Librarian offers individualized and in-depth research assistance to a student preparing an oral report on the Middle East peace process for a political science class. In a second workroom an Instructional Services Librarian confers with a psychology professor on integrating information literacy concepts into an upcoming classroom presentation and devising an effective research assignment based on course learning objectives and desired outcomes. In one of the media suites, an Instructional Technologist advises students developing e-portfolios. Later a group of Dyson Faculty will convene in one of the workrooms for a seminar on plagiarism detection, while the Assistant University Librarian for Staff Development will be offering a training session on the Simmons database to a couple of marketing professors.

Within the Information Commons, the Instructional Services Division has been heavily involved in the teaching of information literacy competencies and electronic research skills as part of the University’s Core Curriculum revision. The Birnbaum Conference Room has now been converted into a modern, wireless, multi-purpose classroom-laboratory to augment the original electronic classroom which is solidly booked during peak periods of activity. The new “smart” classroom is equipped with 30 mobile wireless laptops, modular and reconfigurable furniture, a ceiling-mounted presentation system, cable-hookup and videoconferencing capability to accommodate diverse teaching and learning styles.

Today both electronic classrooms are being used continuously. For example, an English 101 class is being conducted by an Instructional Services Librarian concurrently with an upper division management course, which is being taught by a Lubin School professor and also beamed simultaneously to a class on the New York City Campus. Also scheduled during the day is a presentation on copyright infringement and “fair use” delivered by the Assistant University Librarian for Distributive Learning and a vendor demonstration of a new research database product.

Located on the second floor, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, investigates and applies new means of electronic course enhancement and delivery, and educates faculty on the implications for teaching and learning, so that “pedagogy is effectively integrated with technology.” Thus the Center exhibits a complementary mission with that of the Library and, like DOIT, is an indispensable strategic partner in exploiting the full potential of the Information Commons and effectively serving the distributed learner community. The Center now features an enlarged developmental design space and studio classroom, with expanded technical and courseware design assistance, access to the University’s electronic portfolio program, and interaction with high-end computers, top-of-the-line peripherals (flatbed and slide scanners, digital still and video cameras), and updated versions of selected software packages.

At regular intervals “web camps” are offered by C.T.L.T., sometimes in collaboration with Instructional Librarians, which focus on providing interested faculty with opportunities to enhance their curricula through creating Web pages, organizing and displaying of information, evaluating new and different teaching strategies, and experimenting with various means of electronic communication. Web camps take place in the studio classroom and are hosted by several consultants well versed in Web page creation, image-editing software, digital technologies, and development of pedagogical activities. Projects may include some of the following: Web syllabi and commentaries, Blackboard courseware development, discussion forums, test construction, and assessment tool design.

The Information Commons has other noteworthy features catering to the needs of the Pace community. On each level of the building there are interactive kiosks where a student can register for a course, verify the room schedule, do quick e-mail checks, or just surf the web. Although food and beverage consumption are discouraged elsewhere in the Library, within the 24/7 cyber café, a student can use a laptop, while sipping a cup of coffee and munching a sandwich. Finally, variegated seating, including wet carrels, group study tables and upholstered lounge furniture with power and network connections are strategically placed throughout the building, affording a pleasant and comfortable ambiance conducive to serendipitous exploration, quite reflective study, and group social interaction.

Conclusion

The organizational, technological, and programmatic changes that have transpired in recent years coupled with the dynamic leadership of the Mortola Library in creatively applying an array of informational resources, classroom technologies, and pedagogical strategies to the information literacy and faculty development initiatives, have positioned the library to make a significant contribution to the student recruitment and retention effort. September 2003 marks an important milestone in the history of the University, the 20th anniversary of the dedication of the Edward & Doris Mortola Library. On this auspicious occasion, it seems particularly appropriate to celebrate the Library’s steady transformation from archival repository to digital library and to acknowledge its “rendezvous with destiny” to be the central hub of technology-based instruction and collaborative learning on the Westchester campus. The Information Commons concept is rapidly gaining momentum and the vision may soon become reality.