Best Practices in Technology - Utah State University Tops the List

Campus Technology, a California-based publication, lists the 101 best practices in three areas — smart classrooms, connectivity and administrative information technology — and Utah State University tops the list in the smart classroom category.

Make that Utah State University’s “Smart Library” that tops the list of 101 best practices.

 

“Since we introduced this special 101 Best Practices issue back in December 2005, we’ve come to see that the spark of a good idea is indeed a very powerful thing,” said Katherine Grayson, editor-in-chief at Campus Technology. “All year long, we here at Campus Technology delve into the nitty-gritty of what makes a technology initiative work and return real benefits to its user community and its institution.”

 

It seems that the Merrill-Cazier Library has technology that is returning real benefits. That technology adds to the overall academic experience at Utah State University, allowing students to do just a little bit more, a little bit faster, with more ease. That contributes to academic success.

 

“The library houses really advanced technology that most universities don’t have,” said Alexa Harris, a sophomore nursing major. “It has many resources, including course reserves and journals.”

 

Slobodan Mikolic, a junior majoring in engineering, likes the library’s computers.

 

“There are a lot of computers there and the library is close to my classes and it is quiet,” he said. “It is like my home. I practically live there.”

 

The Merrill-Cazier Library replaced the older Merrill Library, portions of which opened in 1930, with “modern” additions made in the 1970s. The new Merrill-Cazier Library opened with the 2005-06 academic year. It not only uses technology to retrieve information from the library catalog, but also retrieves the books themselves, Campus Technology notes in its acknowledgement.

 

Utah State’s library was first highlighted in Campus Technology in a news brief creatively titled “Technology ‘Til the Cows Come Home,” an affectionate reference to the Aggie heritage and the campus name for the retrieval system, “the barn.”

 

The barn houses a system of robotic stacks, 85 feet high, 60 feet wide and 120 feet long. It locates requested materials among the 1.5 million volumes and speeds them to patrons at a rate of 328 feet per minute — that’s 3.7 miles per hour, Campus Technology stated in the announcement. 

 

All agree that the space-saving systems allows for many years of collection development.

 

Douglas Jackson-Smith, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, misses the old library but finds the advantages in the new.

 

“I miss the shelves and understand the space issues, but I like the electronic elements in the library now too,” he said. “It saves time and allows more access to scientific journals.”

 

Fellow faculty member Cathy Bullock, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Communications, had some early concerns.

 

“At first, I had reservations about the barn, but after the library opened I found it to be easy and convenient — you just put in your order and then go and get it,” she said. “It works well for the students as well. I put items on electronic reserve and the students can access it anytime they want. I tell my students to go find a sunny corner to sit and think — the library has excellent spaces like that too.”

 

The technology makes the library cutting-edge, but the physical space — those sunny corners — make it the place to be.

 

“The Merrill-Cazier Library has become the hub of learning on campus, providing the resources, access to technology and flexible study environments that support the way students learn today,” said USU’s Vice Provost for Libraries Linda Wolcott in the Campus Technology announcement.

 

In its introduction, Campus Technology asks what makes a classroom “smart?”

 

“Presentation technologies such as projectors, document cameras and LCD panels clearly fit the bill, but when you consider other technologies for teaching, learning and developing content, the possibilities become limited only by the boundaries of an institution’s innovation.”

 

Utah State University is proud that the technology incorporated into the new Merrill-Cazier Library has been nationally ranked. It’s something USU students already knew.

 

 

Contact: Linda Wolcott, (435) 797-2687