Information Commons

Concept Statement

The Burke Library and Information Technology Services propose establishing and collaboratively supporting a new Information Commons on the first floor of Burke Library. The Information Commons (IC) will become a major hub of learning and research on campus, bringing together high-capacity computing tools, the print and electronic resources of the Library, and the professional assistance of both reference librarians and information technology staff to provide a single point of service for the campus. The Information Commons will be a key component of Hamilton?s strategy to develop information literate graduates.

The IC support team will be able to respond to faculty or student information needs: resources, retrieval strategy, application, navigation, or output. The collaboration between the Library and ITS in providing service will be a model for the campus. The IC is an important component of providing excellent integrated campus information services in a cost-effective manner.

The Information Commons will be co-located with the Multimedia Presentation Center (MPC) and provide the opportunity for students to conduct their research, use library materials in the development of their ideas, and produce a final product, whether that be a printed paper incorporating graphic elements, a poster session, a Powerpoint presentation, or a video. The proximity of the IC and the MPC will allow students to easily move back and forth as they refine their ideas and undertake further research. The IC and MPC will provide a full spectrum of resources from locating information, evaluating and analyzing it, and ultimately presenting the knowledge developed from that information in a concise and compelling manner.

The IC will be an exciting place characterized by high levels of use by faculty and students, work areas that encourage collaboration, and modern computer technology for accessing, manipulating, analyzing and presenting information. Its design will be visually striking and will emphasize information in all its formats by flowing throughout the first floor. Technology will not be separated from books, other printed material, and services but rather its location will reinforce the interplay between them.

Rationale: The world our graduates will enter is a diverse, complex, and global society in which electronic communication and access to information via computer networks will be commonplace. Knowledge is a critical resource, in ways similar to other natural resources. Leaders in this world will know how to collaborate with others, to access, evaluate, synthesize, and analyze information, make decisions based upon that analysis and communicate those decisions in a way that will move others to action. Knowledge is not the same as information, and information exists in a variety of formats. Knowledge is the result of the process of access, evaluation, synthesis, and analysis of information. It informs decision-making and communication. The ability to turn information into knowledge is the basis of an information literate citizen — one of Hamilton's strategic institutional objectives.

The Information Commons, by its design and execution will reinforce the themes of:

• Understanding how information is organized
• Providing access to information in all its forms
• Effectively using technology tools to access and analyze information
• Critically evaluating the validity of that information
• Providing integrated support services for access to information
• Collaborating with others to create knowledge
• Effectively communicating knowledge to a variety of audiences

Libraries have always provided a place where faculty and students can access books and periodicals, do research, study, and write. The tools they use and the products of their research are changing however. The IC offers services and resources to keep pace with the changing ways students work and study. Students now do their research and writing in an iterative process. Rather than completing all their research, taking notes, and then writing their papers, students now integrate that process so they are developing their ideas and writing their papers with all their research materials open before them. As a result, they use library material at the computers where they are developing their ideas and writing their papers. We see evidence of this by the number of library books we retrieve every morning from the computer labs.

In summary, the Information Commons, together with the Multimedia Presentation Center are central to supporting Hamilton?s strategic goals and objectives while providing cost-effective use of space and personnel.

Randall Ericson, Couper Librarian
David Smallen, Vice President for Information Technology

(Reviewed: July 5, 2007)

Key Documents