“Library As Place” Academic Library/Media Center Design

Abstract = Learning Objectives: 1) An overview of the history of the university library as the place around which the campus was planned. 2) The role of technology as an influencing factor in the evolution of the Library to the Media Center. 3) Current and future trends of the Media Center as the focal point for learning at the University, as place that supports not only independent research, but also as places that promote opportunities for one-to-one and small group learning opportunities. Outline: I. Introduction: Over the last 150 years the university library has been evolving as a place where people acquire information. In the case of university of Virginia and Columbia University the library is the focal point of the campus. Symbolically it represents the place where knowledge lives and truth may be uncovered. With the advancement of technology, this place has become more than a place where individuals may acquire knowledge. Technology has transformed this place to serving multiple community functions for the university community, and in many instances the library has become the heart and pulse of the campus, replacing and competing with Student Unions and other community service oriented buildings. II. Overview of the history of the university library. III. An examination of how and why the university has evolved and how technology has encouraged this development of this place for independent learning to the academic and social hub of the university campus. IV. Two Case studies of university libraries / media centers: Suffolk County Community College Learning resource Center, Long Island New York and Ipswich Library, University of Queensland, Australia. Building on the history of the library, examine the patterns that have emerged and what new pattern shave evolved to meet the needs of the media center. V. Conclusion: Provide guidelines for designing next generation Media Centers. Tools to be taken from this session: (1) A research paper that considers how places may be designed to support learning (2) A list of the case studies and contact to further investigate the 21st Century Media Center. The goal of this session is to evaluate how the university library has evolved, through case studies examine the current trends of the Media Center as the heart of the university academic and social life, and provide guidelines for creating the media center as a place that supports the various ways in which people acquire knowledge. The topic will provide a new paradigm that examines case studies in relationship to the research on how people learn to understand how the physical environment, specifically media centers are designed to encourage the diverse ways in which people appropriate knowledge