Thoughts on Library and Learning Innovation Project

Representatives from throughout EET met with architects doing the preliminary planning for the the Library and Learning Innovation Project (LLIP). The purpose of this meeting was to report back and get answers to questions that arose from our first meetings last month. EET is included in a separate section in the planning documents, and includes information on the following:

- Our role as a support unit
- Key activities
- Hours of operation
- Related activities: This is an interesting area as we'll have access to other innovative areas being planned for other parts of the library. Examples include a 'high tech' instruction room, project rooms, and the Learning Commons
- Workload: contains the names of each position, and how many staff we have
- External Relationships: This is information about relationships to other 'functions' / locations, such as the main entry, learning commons, Learning Services (Cafe), and the Dean's office
- Internal Relationships: Here are a few points from this section . . .

• Overall, provide an open, flexible, highly reconfigurable, transparent, and collaborative environment that is conducive to change and creative processes
• Provide opportunities for formal and informal, scheduled and ad hoc / spontaneous group interaction
• Faculty lab to be very flexible, video conference enabled, and provided with a smart board, whiteboards, multiple display technologies including flat panel monitors . . .
  
• Office to be easily configurable as needs change. Each office securable.

We had an interesting conversation about private office space. We've requested offices for staff who have reporting responsibilities or have other reasons why they need a confidential work space on an ongoing basis. We've requested extra, flexible offices that our staff could book when they need access to a private setting for work or private meetings.

We also requested a larger "creative, brainstorming" room with room for about 12 seats (we may have recommended we make this bigger).

There is a Functional Relationship Diagram that shows the physical relationship between functions in the department. For example, where are the media specialists and formatters in relation to the instructional designers? Where are the offices . . . in the middle, or on the outside walls?

And finally it lists space requirements for each position / work space. It will be interesting to see how much space we have been allocated when the final draft comes out. On this draft it's more than what we currently have.

I came across this article today that talks about Learning Commons, more specifically, "Seven Things You Should KNow about Learning Commons." The information presented in the article is consistent with the conversations we had about the Library project in general, so you might find it interesting.

If you have questions, or would like to see the current draft, please ask someone on this committee: Chris Goble, Jackie Doherty, Lorne Deimert, Donna Blanchard, Sue Huffman, Elio Girardi, or me. We also have two faculty reps: Ian Hepher and Carolyn Speakman.