One-Stop Services at Dimond Library
By Jody Record, Campus Journal Editor
September 5, 2007
One of the new group study rooms in at Dimond Academic Commons
A new space where students, faculty or staff can work collectively or
individually has been carved out on the third floor of Dimond Library,
thanks to collaboration between Computing and Information Services (CIS)
and the library.
Situated in the area where Government Documents used to be sited and
where the Information Technology Support Services’ help desk is
now housed, the Dimond Academic Commons (DAC) provides a sort of one-stop
experience that allows users to get technical support and library services
in the same location.
“It’s a blend of technology and traditional resources,” says
Tracey Lauder, Dimond’s administrative office manager. “Students
and faculty will benefit as it gives them a central location to meet
and interact.”
Let’s say students are working on a joint project. They can come
to the library, do their research, meet in the DAC and discuss their
course of action and begin. And if they run into problems with their
computers, they can walk over to the help desk and ask questions right
there on the spot.
Presently Dimond has one large room that can accommodate about 25 people,
one that holds 15 and five that have room for four people. The first
phase of DAC project, which has been three years in the making, includes
additional computer clusters, collaborative workstations and technology-enhanced
small-group study rooms.
“This is a way to meet the needs of the way people are working
today,” Lauder says. “They’re not working the way the
library was designed. We have huge reading rooms designed for quiet study
and people are screaming to work together.”
In the future, other student support services—like the Writing
Center—will be added.
Government Documents has adopted a new service model (no longer staffing
a public service desk), offering assistance from their offices, via the
web and phone.
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