About the Libraries
Related Links
Quick Links
Creating the New Electronic Information Learning Center
Scott E. Kennedy
Head, Research & Information Services
Level 1 of the Homer Babbidge Library has been transformed into an Electronic Information Learning Center that unites in one location, research librarians, information and technology specialists, teaching faculty, primary research materials, and modern electronic facilities for both individual and group learning. When fully complete, the Center will contain
- Two Information Cafes with seating for a total of 90 students
- A 50-workstation Computer Lab, fully networked with the latest software for composition and data integration
- An Electronic Classroom for the development of information retrieval and data presentation skills
- An Instructional Resource Center (formerly the Faculty Resource Lab) dedicated to training faculty and other instructors how to employ computing technology in their teaching
- A Copy/Scanning Center equipped with networked printers, copiers, and scanners for the digitization of paper-based texts and images
- A Microform Digitizing area for converting the library's rich collection of research microforms to electronic formats
- A Document Delivery Center for the identification, location, and retrieval of research materials from other libraries and commercial providers
- An Information and Research Services Center to provide point-of-use training in information retrieval to both individuals and small groups.
Information Cafes The information cafe offers a welcoming environment for individuals and small groups engaged in serious exploration of information resources both local and worldwide. The workstations are placed in clusters of six around large hexagonal tables and offer a variety of information product menus. Based on the concept of the scholar's workstation, the information cafe aims to provide immediate access to the full gamut of electronic information resources available to library users--from Index Medicus and Beilstein Crossfire to Business Week and The New York Times. Networked printing options from high speed dot matrix to full-scale laser and color printing will transfer the desired text in a matter of seconds to paper.
Computer Lab The new 50 workstation Computer Lab provides an environment where students working individually or in small groups can integrate networked information resources with various software programs such as Word, Powerpoint, Access, HTML, and Excel. Here they also have access to various print, copy, or telnet options that permit translation of their work to other formats or locations.
Electronic Classroom The Electronic Classroom, funded by the Class of 1948, provides a relaxed environment for small groups to engage in hands-on learning. It is a place where students and faculty can develop Internet information retrieval skills, as well as data manipulation and integration skills, in the company of an expert librarian navigator.
 |
Computer clusters in Babbidge Library's new Information Cafe encourage student collaboration, providing them with a wide array of electronic resources. |
Instructional Resource Center The Instructional Resource Center (formerly the Faculty Resource Lab), a service of UConn's Institute of Teaching and Learning, is an electronic training laboratory dedicated to teaching faculty and other university instructors how to incorporate information technology into their teaching repertoires. Web pages, electronic course reserves, interactive electronic instruction, academic chat rooms, course distribution lists, and course related email are some of the technological innovations transforming instruction and learning today.
Digitizing/Scanning Center The Digitizing/Scanning Center provides an opportunity to bring book or microform materials into the world of networked information. Pre-computer age materials, the vast majority of all library materials, can, with the aid of this technology, be incorporated into the electronic environment, providing students and faculty with a mechanism for integrating all library materials, regardless of original format, into their research products.
Document Delivery Center The Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan Center assists library users in locating copies of texts that are not held by the University Libraries. More and more, research materials are being sent from one location to another in electronic form, which both expedites the retrieval process and permits convenient manipulation of the document for research purposes.
Information and Research Services Center The Information and Research Services Center offers a full range of assistance to library patrons, from basic assistance in using the online catalog to high level instruction in chemical structure searching. The Information and Research Services area provides an educational forum where students can acquire point of use training all the hours that the library is open.
All these services together make up the Homer Babbidge Library's new Electronic Information Learning Center. The academic library has always had a mission apart from collection building. And that mission has only grown more critical as libraries have become more and more complex. Libraries are places where uninhibited intellectual investigation takes place, where self-directed exploration occurs, and where all manner of learning, and learning how to learn, is given the very highest priority. The Electronic Information Learning Center is dedicated to furthering this mission.
Back to the Table Of Contents
This page is maintained by Suzanne Zack