Scheduled to open fall semester 2009 or slightly before, the Internet Café will relocate the Food Friendly Area in the Library’s southeast corner to the back of the first floor main lobby, just west of the circulation desk. The remodeled space will provide Internet docking tables, data ports, a cluster of electrical outlets, suitable tables and chairs, diner-style booth seating, a coffee stand, food services and vending machines.
Concurrently, the Library’s Learning Commons of 24 computer workstations put into operation in March, 2008 will undergo a major expansion from its first floor site with space for students in nearly 60 vacated faculty offices in the basement. (Many faculty moved in 2007 to the new Behavioral and Social Sciences Building.) Library faculty have already begun moving downstairs, where students will have access to new spaces for study, multimedia presentations and collaboration; an exercise room equipped with treadmills and Stairmasters; and a ‘quiet’ area for students who prefer traditional forms of study. Eventually some of these spaces will be equipped as smart classrooms.
“On a residential campus like ours, the Library is a hub and a home away from home, not only for resident students, but also for out-of-state and international students,” said Dr. Ray Wang, Interim Dean of the Library. “The Internet Café, the presentation and collaboration spaces, the exercise room all make sense as a convenient and inviting place where students, faculty and staff can decompress, relax. I believe these new assets will play a big role in retention. Today’s students expect their university to have an Internet Café; they consider it a given.”
The Learning Commons is designed to foster independent research and centralize academic support services. It provides near-instant access to the Computer Help Desk, Math Tutoring, Media Distribution and a full roster of HSU Centers: Learning, Advising, Testing, University Writing and the Student Disability Resource Center, which will be making its new home in the Library basement quarters.
This pooling of resources will expand with a rising number of campus partners in the next several years, Wang said.