Around the World to the Technology at the Hub @ WT's, the University of Kentucky's Information Commons
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050710823337 |
| Published date | 10 July 2007 |
| Date | 10 July 2007 |
| Pages | 40-42 |
| Author | Stacey Greenwell |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Around the World to the Technology at the Hub
@ WT’s, the University of Kentucky’s
Information Commons
Stacey Greenwell
40 LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 6 2007, pp. 40-42, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050710823337
Background
In Fall 2005 library Dean Carol Pitts
Diedrichs assembled a group of
interested parties across the University
of Kentucky campus to discuss the
possibility of an information commons
at the University of Kentucky. After the
initial meeting, a subgroup with
representation from the Libraries,
Information Technology (IT), and the
Teaching and Academic Support Center
(TASC) collaborated on a whitepaper,
and then applied for and received
campus instructional infrastructure
improvement funds to create the
information commons in the basement
of Young Library. A workgroup was
formed which was composed of
Libraries, IT, and TASC staff, as well as
interior designer and an architect. In
January 2006, the newly formed
workgroup began meeting to design the
new information commons (the Hub)
which opened in March 2007 (see
www.uky.edu/Libraries/hub).
Bring Macs to Young Library
A frequent question at the William T.
Young Library reference desk was
‘‘where are the Macs?’’ Young Library,
a grand building which opened in 1998,
boasted over 600 computers but not a
single Mac. This oft-repeated request
led the workgroup to plan a Mac lab in
the Hub from the beginning. The new
Mac lab in the Hub features 20 new
Macs which are 24-inch Intel iMacs
with Adobe Creative Suite as well as
other basic software applications
installed. Since opening in March 2007,
the Mac lab in the Hub is often busy
with students working on papers and
projects or simply browsing the web.
See Plates 1-6 (all photos are
courtesy of UK IT).
The Young Library building is open
24-5, so the Mac systems staff saw the
Hub as an opportunity to make Final Cut
Studio and other specialized software
more available to students. The other
Mac labs on campus close at midnight
or earlier, and many times students with
video projects are just getting started on
their work at that hour. So in addition to
the 20 new Macs, the Hub includes four
video-editing suites. The video-editing
suites each include a new Mac Pro with
a 23-inch flat panel display, 43-inch
wall-mounted LG display, as well as
Final Cut Studio and other software.
Seamless experience, more software
on Windows computers
Of the Young Library’s 600
computers spread throughout six floors,
50 were managed by one department,
200 were managed by another, and the
remaining were managed by Student
Computing Services (SCS-IT), the
campus IT entity that manages student
computing labs across campus. The
different hardware and software as well
as some requiring login and some not
made things confusing for students. In
planning the Hub, the workgroup agreed
it was important to make the computer
experience as seamless as possible.
Students had often requested
additional software on library computers
(such as Photoshop, Acrobat
Professional, and Microsoft Vision) that
the library could not easily afford to
license or support on computers located
throughout the building. SCS-IT funds
its labs through student technology fees
assessed as part of tuition, so naturally
they are able to provide a considerable
amount of software and support as
compared to the library. It made perfect
sense to work with SCS-IT in the Hub in
order to provide computers rich with
software.
The Libraries and SCS-IT
collaborated to meet these two needs –
to simplify the user experience and to
provide more software. The Libraries
purchased 50 new computers, and SCS-
IT agreed to manage them and provide
the same software installed in the
existing computer labs in the Hub.
When users come to the Hub, they are
greeted with nearly 300 computers that
are set up identically with a considerable
amount of software installed. Users log
on with the credentials (Active
Directory) they use for most services on
campus, and the session includes a
mapped home directory for storing files
that can be accessed anywhere via a web
browser.
Since an important part of the
University of Kentucky’s mission is to
serve the state of Kentucky, five
computers remain open to the public in
the Hub so that any patron may use
electronic resources or search for
materials in the online catalog. The
computers on floors 1-5 of Young
Library are also configured for public
access.
Where can I get my password reset?
Library users frequently asked at the
reference desk for assistance with
computing accounts, using wireless in
the building, installing software from
the campus download site, and other IT-
related questions. Sometimes the
reference librarian on duty could answer
these questions but sometimes not.
Some situations (such as resetting
passwords) could only be handled by
the Help Desk (HD-IT), an IT entity
across campus. In addition to the
librarians, the SCS-IT lab staff wanted
someone present in the Young Library
building to have access to reset
passwords and perform other functions
that HD-IT staff would handle.
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