Our sources of information, and the practices we use to find it, are in a period of rapid flux. Libraries must respond by selecting, acquiring, and making accessible a host of new information resources, developing innovative services, and building different types of spaces to support changing user behaviors and patterns of learning. A Field Guide to the Information Commons describes an emerging library service model that embodies all three spheres of response: new information resources, collaborative service programs, and redesigned staff and user spaces. Technology has enabled new forms of information-seeking behavior and scholarship, causing a renovation of libraries that revisits the idea of the “commons”—a public place that is free to be used by everyone. A Field Guide to the Information Commons describes the emergence, growth, and adoption of the concept of the information commons in libraries. This book includes a variety of contributed articles, and descriptive, structured entries for various information commons in libraries across the country and around the world.
Editorial Reviews
Review
A consistent format throughout the field guide enables one to compare and contrast features, while the narratives in the first part of the book provide support and guidance in the research of these implementations. This is a valuable resource for any academic library seeking to enhance, implement, or improve an information commons.
Information commons is an emerging library service model that encompasses the new ways libraries are providing access to information resources, joining collaborative service programs, and redesigning space to support changing user behaviors and patterns of learning. Part 1 offers contributed articles on topics such as the history of information commons in academic libraries, barriers to working and learning, and technology. Part 2, “The Field Guide,” consists of structured entries for information commons in 29 institutions around the world, with statistics and information on purpose, services, software, print resources, staff, funding or budget, publicity, and evaluation.
The breadth of topics covered in this guide is admirable: from the history of information commons to their architectural development, to in-depth information about specific information commons projects. Furthermore, the text is well laid out and information is easy to find.
About the Author
Martin Halbert is a recognized figure in library innovation, and serves as Dean of Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is also President of the Educopia Institute, an educational nonprofit that advances the well-being of libraries by fostering the advancement of shared information systems and infrastructures, and was one of the founding partners of the US National Digital Preservation Program. Halbert has a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary liberal arts from Emory University; his research examines the future of digital scholarship and research library services. He has served as principal investigator for grants and contracts totaling more than $7 M, funding more than a dozen large scale collaborative projects among many educational institutions. Halbert has previously worked for the University of North Texas, Emory University, Rice University, UT Austin, and the IBM Corporation.
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