Stockton Librarians Go Global

By Kerry Chang FitzGibbon

Kerry Chang FitzGibbon, Periodicals Librarian and Eric Jeitner, User Experience Librarian were selected to present their poster: “Using Assessment to Reclaim and Transform Library Space” at the 9th International Evidence Based Library & Information Practice Conference (EBLIP9) held on June 18-21, 2017, at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa. We were very fortunate that, this year, the conference site was right in our neighborhood. 

The International Evidence Based Library & Information Practice Conference (EBLIP) is a biannual international conference for the library and information science community.
The Conference aims to bring together librarians, researchers and practitioners to discuss evidence-based practice in libraries, present research, and share best practices. 

The International EBLIP conference has been held biennially since the inaugural conference in 2001 in Sheffield, UK. In subsequent years, the Conference was held in Canada, Australia, Sweden, United Kingdom, etc. 

Eric speaking to attendees about our poster at EBLIP9.

Attendees of previous conferences have hailed from all over the world, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, India, Nigeria, Finland, Norway, Serbia, Turkey, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, Italy, Qatar, The Netherlands, Jamaica, and Malaysia.

The successful creation of Stockton’s Learning Commons provided us the incentive to showcase our project.  We are very proud of our library’s learning commons, and wanted to share our success story with other libraries. 

Much like budgeting, space is a universal concern for many libraries. Bjork Library was last renovated in 1994 when enrollment was less than 5,000.  Today, with over 9,000 students, we are faced with multiple challenges: print collections with no room to grow; study rooms turned into faculty offices; and an expanded curriculum to serve.   

This poster illustrates how four library assessment projects provided the bases for the planning and execution of this space reclamation and repurpose project. The former periodicals room was converted into a collaborative Learning Commons equipped with computers, scanners, and modular tables/chairs. It also offers IT help and tutoring services. The reference room was transformed into a quiet study zone for students who prefer to work alone.  Daily statistics confirm that the Learning Commons is the busiest place in our library.  We changed the role of library from a provider of information to a facilitator of learning.

EBLIP9 was a great success with approximately 150 attendees from various countries. All attendees felt that it was a rewarding, transformative, inspiring, exciting conference.  Eric Jeitner also participated in the Poster Madness session, where poster presenters had one minute to talk about the contents of their poster to conference attendees in a plenary session.

 Eric Jeitner is the User Experience Librarian at Stockton University. He can be reaced at eric.jeitner@stockton.edu.

 

 

 

 

 Kerry Chang-FitzGibbon is the Serials Librarian at Stockton University. She can be reached at Kerry.chang@stockton.edu.