Instructional Support Committee

SBRA: Carole Wedge, Tom Kearns, Wayde Tardif

Mark gave an overview of the planning process for Burling. It was suggested to give a similar introduction at the all-campus presentation at noon, Thursday April 7. A few highlights of the current proposal include integrating Library and IT functions which will benefit from proximity (server maintenance, audio/visual, technical support, etc.); increased special collections presence; possible café; IIF-type rooms, plus seminar/group study spaces and a variety of individual as well as smaller collaborative study spaces. Particular attention will be paid to noise levels and how different spaces will affect or be affected by neighboring spaces and technologies.

Two planned seminar rooms will provide space for different size groups. One room will seat up to 8-10; the other will seat 18-30 and is planned near special collections. A viewing room will seat up to 10, and IIF rooms will seat up to 25. Staff will be located on all levels.

One member questioned how spaces in Burling will affect use of the Forum. Event spaces in Burling are not on the same scale as the Forum, so it should have no effect. This led to a rather lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of including a café in Burling, which will ultimately depend on the fate of the Forum Grill.

A question was raised on the merging of IT and Library. Will the staff also merge? No. The functions are complementary and the two areas are collaborating in more ways, but they are still two distinct areas of specialization.

The Committee and architects discussed a possible pilot project of moving the Help Desk to the Reference area as quite often these two areas overlap. Pilot projects have the advantage of testing ideas before major decisions are made to check their effectiveness.

One of the advantages of combining IT and Library functions is to help make Burling a "one stop" resource: research, scanning, collaboration, AV, and diverse spaces.

There is no definite time frame for Burling renovation at this point. However, smaller projects-such as renovating the Reference Desk area-need to be done with an eye to future plans to minimize waste.

One key to the success of planning for Burling is to create a vested interest the final result. Creating this interest will take time, but will be worth the effort.