Proposed Improvements to the Lawrence V. Johnson Library
From SPSU Wiki
As part of SPSU’s current goal of increasing student retention and enrollment rates, the Lawrence V. Johnson Library will be putting forward several proposals to better their campus services. This wiki page will serve as a place where faculty, students, and staff can review possible plans and discuss potential changes. Please read the items below that interest you the most, and give feedback on this page or through e-mails to the library. The library should be at the heart of the campus learning experience, and we encourage everyone to let us know how we might better serve the students and faculty.
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Reference
Update: The new tables and layout discussed below have been implemented as of January 10th, 2006. The ten additional terminals and software updates will soon follow. The "new" terminals are actually older ones discarded by the budget office, and repurposed for library needs. Below are two pictures of the old arrangement and the new:
old reference area
reference area update
The library has ordered new computer tables to expand the number of reference area workstations from seventeen to twenty-seven. This will increase student, faculty, and community access to library resources. The sketch linked here details how this new floor plan may appear.
The terminals will now include Microsoft Word. Previously, student terminals in the library did not include Microsoft Office. The terminals in the library are meant for researching the library catalog and helping students find electronic resources, and it was felt that including word processing programs on the computer would cause students to stay too long at one terminal, discouraging other users. In response to student demand, more terminals will now be provided for use, and Microsoft Office will be made available to facilitate the student need for downloads of course materials that use Word, Access, Excel, and Power Point programs.
Archives and Special Collections
The library is intent on developing a research collection from the archival material currently in its possession. Developing such a research collection will facilitate the expansion of SPSU’s graduate programs, and attract authors who can use the original source materials for publication. Undergraduate programs can utilize these materials as well, as the archive holds an unknown quantity of unique and rare materials relating to the history of regional architecture, engineering education, and other topics related to SPSU courses of study.
In order to organize and house the archives and special collections as other university archives do, a space within the library must be designated for archives use. Many different proposals have been put forward for possible archives space in different parts of the library. The current proposal linked here would exist on the second floor, and would involve losing at least one study room.
This proposal is dependent on three factors:
- A separate HVAC unit with humidity controls must be installed in the new archives space; current environmental controls on the second floor have caused material loss and will continue to cause material loss until remedied.
- Leaks exist in the grout seals around the glass bricks near the second floor ceiling; this creates a risk for water damage and mold growth on irreplaceable materials, and must be fixed.
- Current space must allow for all of the archives and special collections to be secure from theft. This means that the new walls contracted for the space must extend to the ceiling and contain doors that lock.
The SPSU campus and the Lawrence V. Johnson Library will be greatly enhanced by an archives study area and display space that will allow alumni, faculty, and students to access rare materials relating to the University and the subjects it teaches. In addition, the space will allow for research to be conducted on rare and fragile materials without risk of damage.
Other proposals using different parts of the library may yet be considered. To see the archive's work in progress, visit the archives and special collections progress blog.
Student Study Rooms
The second floor of the library currently contains twenty-five free study rooms, as well as one larger study room that is available for bigger groups to reserve. These study rooms are important to SPSU students, as this is the campus area best suited for group work and assigned team work. All of the study rooms have internet availability for laptops, and doors that close so that students can work in the library together without having to worry about their volume level. Because the study rooms provide needed meeting space for students in close proximity to the library materials they use in projects, the rooms are considered critical to the library’s student services.
The library will lose at least one student study room in the proposed archives expansion, and two rows of study carrels. It has been suggested that the library should consider constructing more student study rooms – the rooms often fill at night, especially around typical project deadlines. The library is actively seeking input from students and faculty on how we might upgrade our student study spaces to make them more attractive as a learning environment.
Feedback
If you are uncomfortable using the discussion tab of the wiki to voice your opinions or concerns about possible changes to the Lawrence V. Johnson library, please feel free to email us or call. You can find all the more traditional ways of contacting us on the library's information page.
