Baylor > Parents League > Perspectives August 2010
In This Issue

"This is Not Your Grandmother's Library"

Take a stroll through Moody Memorial Library's Garden Level today, and it's obvious: change--preceded by a lot of careful planning--has certainly been in the air.

"This is not your grandmother's library," Vice President for Information Technology and Dean of University Libraries Pattie Orr said, regarding the recent transformation.

Since its opening in 1968, Moody Library has seen four decades of Baylor students come and go. And here we are in 2010: new technology, new methods of teaching and a new generation of students (your students) with a need for relevant study spaces.

"We had shelving and furniture that literally dated back to the building of Moody," Tim Logan, assistant vice president for Electronic Library, said. "We wanted to create a real destination for students, retaining the good things about the library, but adding services and features that address the needs of students in the twenty-first century."

Collaborative Study: The New Norm

Almost unanimously, Baylor students asked for group-friendly study spaces and mobile furniture to support the academic trend in today's college classes--away from solely individual research and toward assignments that better prepare graduates for a professional career: group presentations and team research projects. Mobile white boards were at the top of the list. And that's exactly what they got, along with the addition of:
  • Expanded 24-hour study space with the removal of old shelving;
  • Comfortable, moveable furniture and café-style booths for group discussions;
  • A new entrance to the Harvey Garden (easy access to a breath of fresh air in between studying);
  • More than 100 desktop and laptop computers, relocated from the former Moody Garden Level Computing Facility;
  • Special KIC scanners to make information gathering a breeze and boost sustainability by cutting down on copying;
  • Large monitors where students can connect their laptops and share viewing space with classmates; and
  • Additional electrical outlets for laptops plus added access points for improved wireless service.
Now called the Moody Garden Study Commons, this ideal group study space has already received loads of positive feedback from Baylor students, according to Orr. In fact, students were already making use of the new arrangement before workers had even finished vacuuming up the construction debris. "The fact that our students adopted the new space so rapidly let us know that we were on the right track," Orr said. And for those students who still regard silent study as golden, don't worry! We've got it covered. Designated as a "monastery quiet" zone, the Prichard Quiet Study Commons on the second floor of Moody Library is the perfect place for individual study. "Whatever our students' particular study needs are, there's a tremendous amount of resources, specialized study space and caring library faculty and staff ready to help them," Logan said. "We're making the library the students' place."