To anyone interested or involved in the development of learning centres, this book offers a wealth of detailed information. Case studies are used to reveal the advantages and disadvantages, the problems and rewards of this approach to the provision of library services. The learning centres at Sheffield Hallam, Leeds Metropolitan, Aberdeen and Lincoln universities provide four models of development for examination. The contributors have intimate knowledge of the developments within their own institutions and give an illuminating account of the complexities and issues involved.
The book begins by outlining the economic, political and social changes that have led universities to rethink the role and purpose of their academic support services. The organizational frameworks adopted by the case study institutions are examined in terms of rationale, organizational model and vision, mission and objectives.
The authors then move on to the changing staff experience within each institution. This is explored in relation to staff roles and responsibilities, the impact upon staff skills and development, the implications for staff culture and the challenges for recruitment and selection. The student experience is recorded with contributors examining the ways in which services and staff interact with students to support their learning and how students work within the environments created by the new learning centres. The case studies illustrate some of the services developed to facilitate student learning for particular student groups, distance learners, disabled students and researchers.
Changing institutional relationships are considered with the need to develop new partnerships that encourage and enable the resources, facilities and staff expertise to be used to the maximum potential. The writers then consider the actual buildings and the process of development from the initial planning to the design and operational issues and the arrangement and integration of facilities. The role of the learning centre in the changing learning environment is explored with the move to e‐learning and the emphasis on students’ self‐managed learning. Finally a look over the horizon is given with some ideas on the possible future of learning centres.
This comprehensive account of learning centre development is essential reading for all those concerned with learning resource provision in higher education. Careful reading will prove very rewarding.
