Around the World to the University of Arizona: one year of lessons learned in the new information commons ...
Maliaca Oxnam, Laura Talamonti and Victoria Mills
Introduction
The University of Arizona Library truly stepped into the computer and collaborative learning age when it opened its new Information Commons (IC) in January 2002. During the Fall 2001 semester, the 26,000+ University of Arizona undergraduate students had only 12 computers with both Web access and availability of creation software (word processing, spreadsheets, graphics,etc.) in the main library. Students had to find other locations to write their papers, create Powerpoint presentations or design Web pages and it was difficult for them to find computers with needed software and needed space for groups to work together comfortably. Those same students returned to campus for the Spring 2002 semester and found the IC waiting for them. It was a place designed for students, with 230 brand new computers, fully loaded with software, in a spacious environment created for group work and learning. It was also a space that was open 143 hours a week and staffed to help students with both research and technology questions. The IC was an immediate success and it became the"place to be" on campus. Years of planning and support for the IC was done by the university and library administrations and much hard work went in to make it a reality from staff of many different units on campus. The organizational structure is illustrated at: www.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/ilcst/ilcsthp.html
This paper will describe the IC and some of the lessons learned in the first year of operations. It is our hope that those already involved with or hoping to develop information centers similar to the University of Arizona's IC will find this paper helpful in seeing what we have learned after one year of practice. A link to the IC is prominent on all library Web sites, such as www.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/pic/pic.htm
The IC
It is important to understand the scope of the IC. The full real estate and technology layout is described at www.ilc.arizona.edu/features/infocom.htmLocated underground, as one part of the University of Arizona's (UA) larger Integrated Learning Center (ILC), the IC is one of three entry ways from the ground level into the ILC. As such, the IC helps to impress on students the importance of information and the library as an integral part of their education. The IC is more than a reference and research area and more than a computer lab. It is also more than an area for students to meet and study. The IC fosters the ideas of these three traditionally separate areas into one cohesive learning space focused on integrating learning, collaboration and interaction. Students interact with their peers, their faculty, and the library staff while engaged in using current computing technology and information resources to facilitate learning. Talking is encouraged in the IC, so it is not a quiet place.
Filled with 209 personal computers, 21 Macintosh computers, and over 100 active ports for laptop computing, the IC quickly became one the most popular locations on campus. In addition to the base computing stations, there are also 13 scanners, 12 print stations (ten black and white and two color) and the latest in computing software. (A full listing of all software and hardware available in the IC can be viewed at http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/ust/infocomm/ic-features.pdf.)There are 27 group study rooms available on a first-come, first-served basis and an instructional classroom with 50 additional computers that is available to library staff for instruction and training.
The IC is open 24 hours a day, five days a week (Sunday-Thursday) with shorter hours on Friday evening and Saturday. The IC is open to public users,but priority is given to UA students, staff and faculty during periods of high demand. Beginning late in the evening and at any point when there is heavy use and low student turn-over on the computer stations, users are required to show a university ID (or be able to prove affiliation with the university). If affiliation cannot be proven, the users are asked to release the workstation to a waiting UA user.
The opening of the IC in January 2002 required staffing contributions from over 52 library staff members and 38 student assistants from five different library units. The IC is staffed all the hours that it is open, so students can get research or technology help at 9 a.m., 9 p.m., 3 a.m. or whenever they need it. To provide an acceptable level of service to our users, any staff or students working on the IC desk participated in a series of training sessions aimed at teaching them the knowledge and skills necessary to provide basic service for library and technology questions alike. Each person came with different levels of comfort and knowledge around technology and information resources. In short, most library staff had the experience with traditional library resources, but needed training with the technology. Likewise the students were proficient with the technology, but needed training with the library services and resources.
In developing a training plan, the IC training team's initial goal was that"everybody should learn everything." It was quickly realized that this was an inappropriate expectation and the goal was revised to "Everybody needs to develop basic competencies around reference service and technology assistance." To accomplish the goal, 21 information modules and 14 technology modules were developed for training. To realize the task at hand, the modules did not try to teach everything. Rather the modules focused on providing enough information and training so that a reference provider could answer approximately 80 percent of the questions that would be asked. In essence, the training focused on the competencies necessary to answer those things that would be asked over and over again of the service providers.
While training sessions were offered throughout the fall 2001 and spring 2002 semesters, it was quickly realized that staff only remained familiar with the technology and resources they used on a regular basis. As such, a natural triage developed to assist users with more difficult questions. Students were much more adept at answering the technology questions and the library staff was much better at answering the information and research questions.
The first four months of operations showed a large number of technology questions, but as the IC moved into its second semester of operations, there has been a dramatic shift. Now there is a significantly larger number of reference and research questions. This may have been due to poor signage or the lack of a more traditional library setting. The IC only has a small reference area containing the most highly used reference resources for undergraduate students. While it has taken a while for users to realize that the IC is more than just a computing center, it has helped to broaden users' understanding of the importance of the library and information in the learning process.
Computing
While the remodeling of the building was finishing, the library's technology support staff (LIST) had been busy planning for the deployment of the 200 computers that were to inhabit the new IC. In the second week of December 2001,LIST members walked into the empty, 29,000 square foot area that was to be known as the IC. What they saw were piles of black and white Gateway computer boxes stacked throughout the facility. Realizing that they only had three weeks until the opening of the facility, they looked at one another and said "Let's do it."
That was almost a year and a half ago. Today the facility is the largest computing center on campus and continues to grow. Since opening, the library has continued to add computers as demand has grown. LIST, composed of eight staff members, is responsible for maintaining the network, hardware, and software for the entire facility. Those with an appreciation for technology would stand in awe as they enter the IC and view the six tiers of computers. Users often do not recognize the complexities of running and maintaining such a large number of heavily-used and networked workstations in a facility such as this.
LIST started with a good implementation plan, allowed for growth, and recognized the need to be flexible. In addition to constant communication with stakeholders within the library, LIST also built good working relationships with the campus information technology department. This was very beneficial when addressing areas of concern for security, bandwidth, and various network issues on a much larger scale. LIST continues to work to understand and meet our customers' needs while providing them with seamless access to information.
The computing environment is native Windows 2000 with two domain controllers each running active directory (AD) and domain name services (DNS). Two print servers operate the pay-for-print service, and a file/application server which also stores desktop profiles and an anti-virus management program. The IC uses dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) support for user laptops. DHCP allows students to self-register their laptops in order to access the network. The IC uses mandatory desktop profiles on all workstations, including specific configurations for the scanner stations, the American Disabilities Act (ADA)workstations, the Instruction Classroom, the Geographic Information Systems(GIS), the Reference Desk workstations, and the public workstations. We use Windows 2000 group policies and reflexive access lists at the router to secure our systems from outside access. The entire network is running at 100MB.
As operations began in the IC, LIST was able to make use of several software applications to help ensure everything would work smoothly. One of these applications was our pay-for-print software, Pharos (www.pharos.com). Pharos tracks, monitors,measures, routes, and charges for network printing. We have 12 black and white Laserjet printers and two color Laserjet printers located throughout the IC. Having invested in extra memory and high-speed printing greatly helps when students send large graphic and PDF files to be printed. Cost is 10¢ per page for black and white and $1 per page for color printing. Our printers are leased from Xerox and managed by the Library's Photocopy Center. Since the IC has opened, our customers have printed more the 1.7 million total pages.
LIST also decided to use a client/server license management system, Keyserver(www.sassafras.com), for local and remote software applications. Keyserver allows for a number of different workstations to share a specific number of licenses. Keyserver saves the library money by not having to buy a license for each piece of software for each workstation. At the same time, it allows LIST to monitor how heavily certain software applications are used, helping us to determine if they have purchased an appropriate number of licenses to support customer use needs. LIST is currently keying 30 different software packages for both the Macintosh and PC systems.
To help with deployment of new software and general maintenance of the workstations, LIST uses Ghost Imaging software (www.symantec.com). For the amount of software on the workstations in the IC, it was estimated that it would take two to three days with multiple people to do a manual installation of software on all of the IC machines. This is unacceptable service time given the high demand for computers in the IC. Using Ghost, a systems support member creates a master image on one workstation that contains all software,permissions, system settings, etc. (A master image must be created for each different set of workstations that are to have different software, hardware or permissions. For example, our scanning workstations require a different master image from our general use workstations.) This image is then pushed to the remaining system on the network creating a duplicate system image. On average,it takes a systems support person approximately 35 hours to manually install,configure, and update the master images for all the machines. Once the master images are created, they can be installed consecutively on multiple machines in 30-40 minutes. Currently the compressed images are over 7GB each and growing with every new software addition. Creating master images is a complex process that requires good organization. One word of advice would be to ensure that you always leave time to test your master images to ensure all permissions and software are functioning correctly.
One of our most important discoveries and implementations for a 24 7 computing environment was Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze is a software application that once installed "freezes" the computer's software configuration. On restart all changes made by users are erased and the original software configuration is restored. Once this application was implemented across all the machines in the IC, the helpline calls for virus problems, performance issues and general application problems decreased by almost 90 percent. Not only does this save staff time in troubleshooting, reporting, and fixing general computer problems, but it is seamless to the user. Having the computers set to automatically reboot after several hours of non-use, again helps to ensure that the system returns to its original state erasing any changes or problems that may have occurred.
The key to the continued success in the IC comes from our learning. The authors hope that this has provided a glimpse into some of the techniques that have helped the University of Arizona Library's IC make it through its first year of operations. Having identified acceptable knowledge and service levels for our customers, while simultaneously learning about new technologies to assist us in maintaining and making computing and technology services available has enabled us to create a collaborative, creative, welcoming space that enables users to actively participate in their own learning processes has been the key to our success.
But all the students knew or cared about was the fact that they now had a place on campus that was their own for studying, research and creation. Popularity amongst students at the University of Arizona has helped prove the success of the IC. Since the IC opened its doors to the university community in January 2002 we only look ahead as we have been moving at full speed.
Maliaca Oxnam(oxnamm@u.library.arizona.edu) is an Engineering Librarian, University of Arizona, Science-Engineering Library, Tucson, Arizona, USA.Laura Talamonti (talamontil@u.library.arizona) is Support Analyst Sr. at the University of Arizona, Main Library, Tucson, Arizona, USA.Victoria Mills(millsv@.u.library.arizona) is Undergraduate Services Librarian, University of Arizona, Main Library, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
