Beyond the Information Commons

A Field Guide to Evolving Library Services, Technologies, and Spaces

Edited by Charles Forrest, Martin Halbert

Publication date:

22 August 2020

Length of book:

232 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781538141137

In the closing decades of the twentieth century, academic libraries responded to rapid changes in their environment by acquiring and making accessible a host of new information resources, developing innovative new services and collaborative partnerships, and building new kinds of technology-equipped spaces to support changing user behaviors and emerging patterns of learning. The “Information Commons” or “InfoCommons” blossomed in a relatively short amount of time in libraries across North America, and around the world, particularly in Europe and the British Commonwealth.

This book is more than a second edition of the 2009 book A Field Guide to the Information Commons which documented the emergence of a range of facilities and service programs that called themselves “Information Commons.” This new book updates this review of current practice in the Information Commons and other new kinds of facilities inspired by the same needs and intents, but goes beyond that by describing the continued evolution. This new book is an attempt to answer the question: “What might be the next emerging concept for a technology-enabled, user-responsive, mission-driven form of the academic library?”

Like its predecessor, Beyond the Information Commons is structured in two parts. First, a brief series of essays explore the Information Commons from historical, organizational, technological, and architectural perspectives. The second part is a field guide composed of more than two dozen representative entries describing various Information Commons using a consistent format that provides both perspective on issues and useful details about actual implementations. Each of these includes photos and other graphics.

Foreword
Susan K. Nutter
Acknowledgements
Charles G. Forrest and Martin D. Halbert
Introduction
Charles G. Forrest and Martin D. Halbert

Part I: The Information Commons
1. Origin and evolution of the commons in academic libraries
Liz Milewicz
2. Surveying the landscape
Joan Lippincott
3. 21^st century library service design
Elliot Felix and Matthew Swift
4. Integrating technology into the Information Commons
Parke Rhoads
5. Designing flexible spaces
Summer Cook and Betsy Maddox
6. Tying it all together
Kelly Brubaker

Part II: Field Guide Entries
Introduction to the Field Guide Entries
Kristi Burns
Field Guide Entries

Claremont Colleges Library (CA)
Collaborative Commons

Dartmouth College (NH)
Jones Media Center

Duke University (NC)
The Ruppert Commons for Research, Technology and Collaboration (The Edge)

Emory University (GA)
Learning Commons, Student Digital Life

Indiana University (IN)
Learning Commons

Jackson State University (MS)
JSU Innovate

Kansas State University (KS)
K-State InfoCommons

North Carolina State University (NC)
Lake Raleigh Learning Commons

Ohio University (OH)
Learning Commons

Pennsylvania State University (PA)
Knowledge Commons

Simon Fraser University (BC, Canada)
Student Learning Commons

Texas Christian University (TX)
Information Commons

Trinity University (TX)
Info Commons

University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Knowledge Commons, Research Commons, & Learning Commons

University of Central Florida (FL)
Knowledge Commons

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (IL)
Scholarly Commons

University of Iowa (IA)
Learning Commons

University of Maryland (MD)
Terrapin Learning Commons

University of Minnesota Twin Cities (MN)
SMART Learning Commons

University of North Carolina at Greensboro (NC)
Digital Media Commons

University of North Texas (TX)
Collaboration & Learning Commons

University of North Texas (TX)
The Factory

University of Oklahoma (OK)
Helmerich Collaborative Learning Center

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (TN)
Studio

University of Texas (TX)
PCL Learning Commons

Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)
Collaboration Room

Virginia Tech University (VA)
Learning Commons

Afterword
Marie S. A. Sorensen
Appendix A: Field Guide Entry Survey Form
Appendix B: Timeline of Information Commons Development
About the Editors and Contributors
Index

Information commons bring together technology, resources, and services in one “common” physical space to appeal to students. In this update to the 2009 edition of A Field Guide to the Information Commons, editors Forrest and Halbert describe evolutions in information commons over the past 10 years, and discuss how academic libraries are keeping pace with the needs of campus communities. Like the first edition, this book is divided into two distinct parts: essays that explore information commons from “historical, organizational, technological, and architectural perspectives”; followed by more than two dozen descriptions of information commons in academic libraries worldwide. The book’s photos and floor plans are helpful for visualizing the space being described. This is a solid work for understanding the past, present, and future of the information commons. Librarians, as well as library science students and professors, will benefit from this worthwhile read.