Page 28 - Campus Technology, March/April 2019

FEATURE IT Management
for her to suggest that.
One of the first efforts undertaken by her newly
expanded team was to develop a research and design studio on the first floor of the library that brought together the librarians who were already there to work alongside two other groups: those who were education technologists and those who were part of a peer tutoring program. The idea fit well into the overall thinking for the merger in the first place, which was to develop “a shared mis- sion for supporting students and faculty success.” With her encouragement, multiple people pur- sued instructional design certifications either through Harvard Extension School (MA) or the American Library Association. The result was a “shared language of instructional design” as well as blended course support. The new development also led to the creation of a student-led workshop series (“Burkeshops” — named after Hamilton’s Burke Library) covering 3D printing, digital media editing and design, website construction, logo design, advanced Google searching and other converged topics.
By the time she’d landed at Davidson, Forrest’s initial reaction was that it felt “really foreign not be working hand-in-hand with T&I.” Right away, she knew she wanted to develop “a really strong working relationship” with the CIO, Kevin Davis, and other partners in T&I. That has encompassed both organizations offering workshops on open educational resources, hosting a digital storytell- ing booth at “Family Weekend” and expanding shared training opportunities for Digital Media and Research Tutors. They have also joined forc- es to help support the college’s Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where they collaborate around data literacy efforts via the Hub’s weekly Data Café and ongoing workshops.
Now, Forrest is busy identifying new ways for IT and the library to collaborate. This fall, the library will introduce a new coworking space, she said,
staffed by two instructional designers who will be in the library permanently, along with two research librarians “who will rotate through that space.” She envisions faculty members coming to the space for help on designing assignments, which might, she offered, have both research and technology components. “We want to be able to provide assistance from the research to the cre- ation phase of a project. We’re hoping that having the different minds in the space will make that process richer and more seamless,” she said.
Then there are the cross-division working groups, exploring solutions around institutional repositories, development of digital and informa- tion competencies for the college, records man- agement and shared support of data initiatives across campus.
And what about the opportunities for those student employees to expand their information and digital competencies? Forrest has already got her eyes on some blended training they might undertake: “It’d be nice for our students to be able to offer joint workshops around topics like finding quality images for a digital project, creating visually appealing research posters or using the 3D printers.” She imagines a future meeting with somebody who needs to put together a website with the help of the tech side of the house, but then, “Oh, my goodness, the images aren’t cited or their resources are all from Wikipedia or there are user accessibility issues,” and at that point the library side would step in to contribute.
“It goes both ways,” Forrest said. “I think once people start understanding that there’s so much overlap, it just gets easier. Coming here, it’s clear to me you don’t have to be merged to work together in meaningful ways.”
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for Campus Technology.
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2019