Monday, February 11, 2008

ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award

This year’s winners of the ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award were announced recently. McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario won in the University Library category with an interesting remake of their library. A new University Librarian and the creation of seven new librarian positions lead to a shift to what they call “Library Service 2.0 @ MAC.” Details are in their application along with information on liaison programs with the faculty and pictures of their new information commons.

1 comment:

Frank said...

Some noteworthy hi-lites from their application:

On page 2:
"Once a drab and outdated reading room with none of the hi-tech functionality required by library
users today, the Mills Learning Commons is now an active, student-centred learning space."

On page 3
"In response to an increasing demand for silent study space, two new silent study areas were created
in Mills Library, improving silent study capacity by a total of 80 seats in this library. This was
achieved by reorganizing and repurposing staff space."

On page 4
"We have reduced the footprint of our physical collections through de-duping/weeding projects and offsite storage solutions."

IV. TRANSFORMING OUR SERVICES on pages 7 to 9 also worth a look.