Student Ingenuity

I love to walk around the library during finals week. The intensity and concentration fills the air with an almost electric charge. At the same time there is always something to make me laugh and shake my head at how ingenious our students are. Last semester it was the group of students who took over two tables and a couch on the second floor for the entire week. One member of the team was always there to save the space. They needed someone there to hold the space and to protect the coffee maker they brought and the food in the cooler that they had next to the window. Every time I went past someone was sacked out on the couch while others were studying.

This year I saw this sign on one of the tables on the second floor. If you can't read it, the laminated sign says, "this table is reserved. Thank you, the McIntyre Library Staff." It has our logo on the top and looks just like a sign that we would produce. There's only one thing wrong, the library staff do not reserve tables. I have to applaud the work and thought that went into coming up with a laminated table tent to keep a table. I also have to congratulate our student body as a really honest group. For the entire time it took for me to see the sign, make sure it wasn't really one of ours, and take the picture no one was at the table. In all that time they had left that laptop out and open. No one nicked that laptop. Way to go BluGolds.

The Open Group Study Area at UW-Stevens Point

Librarians at UW-Steven Point gave a presentation on how they developed an open group study area for their library. They have two of these stations on their first floor near their reference desk. This is something we would like to do. It seems like students want to have a space where they can walk into the library and work as a group on the spur of the moment. They wouldn't have to sign up for a room. It would be quick. It also seems to provide that see and be seen that Brian Mathews from Georgia State University spoke about as a keynote speaker at the WAAL conference.

McIntyre Library, the place to be

Yesterday's Spectator mentioned the Library in Natalie Saeger's "Ask Anything" column. Natalie responded to a student's, Hunny Hunter's, question asking where were the best spots on campus to meet female students. Natalie said the number 2 spot is the 4th floor of McIntyre Library. Natalie says that is where the best looking people study. Its where she goes to study. She reminds her searching inquirer, "remember that you don't want to meet just anyone; you want to meet someone with dedication." College entry requirements gaurantee that fellow students have a certain level of intellect but Natalie says that the 4th floor is where the really dedicated high achievers are to be found.

Good advice Natalie!

John

Graduating Student Appreciation

Today we wished our graduating seniors happiness and good luck as they are moving on with they lives and careers. We asked each of the twelve graduating student workers to pick out a book that meant something to thew. We then placed a bookplate in it with their name.







John H. Pollitz


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WAAL Keynote - Brian Matthews

On Wednesday morning, Brian Matthews, who is the User Experience Librarian at Georgia Tech and soon to be of UC Santa Barbara, spoke to the group about his experience on bringing innovative services to the Georgia Tech libraries. I liked the idea that their mission was to design the "premier group study area on campus". It reminded me of the Pike Fish Market deciding to be a world famous fish market and how they decided to accomplish that goal. Here were the ideas that had resonance for me.

• Furniture on wheels so students could control their space; including movable walls and whiteboards. This seems to be a current design theme that we will need to remember as we buy any new furniture.
• They designed group work tables not just study rooms. This taps into the need to see and be seen while still getting work done. Bryan Vogh is already working on how we can create these types of work areas on the first floor of McIntyre Library. I think that we can use our flip-chart and map of the first floor to let students decide where we site the group workstations.
  
• They used Wimba software to deliver social web events to students on a current topic, ideas or issues instead of holding drop-in instruction sessions. It seemed like an innovative way to deliver information literacy in a non-class based manner.
• At Georgia Tech they promote class projects that use the library as a case study much like we are currently doing with Dr. Sutton's marketing class.
• Matthews mentioned how he discovered how immersing himself in the activities of the library led to new insights. While his office was being renovated for three months he moved his workspace out into the library with the students. I'm thinking this might be a great way for me to get out onto the floors for a couple of hours per week instead of being cooped up in my office.

WAAL Ideas 1

I arrived today in time for the first session by librarians from UW Stevens Point. Here are the ideas I found interesting.

• They have used a lot of moveable furniture in their public areas.

• They have a couple of rooms for presentation practice rooms. Our students have been asking for this. We need to set this up.

• In their coffee bar they have kiosk computers around their architectural pillars. It seems like a good way to deal with our pillars and answer the student's requests for quick search and print stations.

• They also have big screens that show computer availability on all their floors. This seems like something we could use since we have computers on all of our floors.

Jp



John H. Pollitz

Director of Libraries

UW Eau Claire

Eau Claire WI

715-836-4827

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McIntyre Library, that "foxy older woman"

Yesterday the latest issue of Volume One came out with an article that mentions McIntyre Library in the most delightful way. Online editor, Mike Paulus, offers up a paean to libraries in general and local libraries in particular. He remembers the time he spent in McIntyre Library as a student at UW-Eau Claire by describing the library as a "foxy older woman". I hadn't thought of this place like that but like how he talks about "her". I particularly enjoyed his description of long nigths studying in the library that he described as, "... usually ending up far more confused than when I started. You seemed amused by this, you clever minx, you. but you always gave me the answers I needed." There's more. This was a fun read and a wonderful description of the role libraries play in people's lives.