Students and resources come together at the new Learning Commons in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.
Even before its official October 21 opening, the Learning Commons at the W. E.B. Du Bois Library was buzzing. Students Googled as workers power-drilled nearby, both groups focused on deadlines. Begun last June, the fast-track transformation of the library’s garden and entrance levels into the Learning Commons included painting walls rich colors, installing new furnishings and carpeting, and building meeting rooms. Also new are sleek, more user-friendly service desks on both levels, wireless access, a revamped reference section, and the clustering of several services, such as the Writing Center, previously in Bartlett Hall. The tantalizing aroma of freshly brewed coffee greets library visitors as a new cafe, Procrastination Station, dishes up bagels, danish, cold and hot drinks, and other treats on one side of library’s entrance. On the other, comfortable chairs invite readers to leaf through the new books displayed on nearby shelves.
On the garden level, the butterflies have abandoned the buddleias in the courtyard outside its windows, but plenty of people are flocking there to use “LC” amenities—senior Erin O’Neil among them. Deep into studying for midterms at eight one recent morning, the sociology major was folded into an armchair, surrounded by papers and open books. What does she like about the LC? The additional computers, comfy chairs (“key”), and the “cute” cafe.” As someone who visits the Du Bois three times a week, she was excited to hear that later this fall, the entire library will be open 24/5, from 11 a.m. Sundays to 9 p.m. Fridays, and Saturdays 9 to 9. “I work,” she explained, “and when I get done, it’s not really worth it, coming for just an hour and a half before the library closes.” Learning that soon she can stop in at three a.m., she said knowingly, “Sometimes you need to.”
Nearby, Shun Ling was checking his e-mail before heading off to a conference on soils on sediments on campus. The LC has 56 computers (both Macs and PCs) on tap for anyone’s use, as Ling, in from Washington, DC to attend the conference was delighted to discover. He confessed that he had forgotten to pack their laptop, but his wife, who accompanied him, had been able to do her work anyway on the “very high-quality” computers. (Both Macs and PCs are on hand.)
By late morning most days, the LC is full of students drafting papers at new, curvy maroon tables; collaborating on projects, nestled in stylish, suedy chairs on wheels (easily moved around via handles on the back)—and yes, catnapping. Every one of those 56 workstations, as well as many of the computers reserved for students, are in use. In the meeting rooms, classes and small groups jot ideas on white boards mounted on the walls. As well as offering assistance on how to make use of the library’s more than 300 databases, 12,000 electronic journals, 15,700 subscriptions, 5.8 million books and government documents, the LC houses Academic Advising; the Writing Center; a branch of Career Services; a help desk for technical support; and the Assistive Technologies Center, a drop-in lab for people with disabilities. (On the tenth floor of Du Bois, the Learning Resource Center is open for walk-in tutoring and instruction.)
This kind of coming together—of resources and the UMass Amherst community—is exactly what the Provost’s office had in mind in creating the Learning Commons. The original impetus was to support diversity by providing a central academically-oriented gathering place foster collaboration, and to make a welcoming place, in particular, for undeclared majors who haven’t yet found a home at a specific school or department. The LC’s design was shaped in part by staff visits to other campuses and input from student focus groups—even “Procrastination Station” came from a naming contest.
During the LC’s grand opening, keynote speaker Roberto A. Ibarra, Special Assistant to the Provost and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico, identified libraries as “a place to belong.” Belonging to the Du Bois is now more appealing than ever.
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