In the closing decades of the twentieth century, academic libraries responded to rapid changes in their environment by acquiring and making accessible a host of new information resources, developing innovative new services and collaborative partnerships, and building new kinds of technology-equipped spaces to support changing user behaviors and emerging patterns of learning. The “Information Commons” or “InfoCommons” blossomed in a relatively short amount of time in libraries across North America, and around the world, particularly in Europe and the British Commonwealth. This book is more than a second edition of the 2009 book A Field Guide to the Information Commons which documented the emergence of a range of facilities and service programs that called themselves “Information Commons.” This new book updates this review of current practice in the Information Commons and other new kinds of facilities inspired by the same needs and intents, but goes beyond that by describing the continued evolution. This new book is an attempt to answer the question: “What might be the next emerging concept for a technology-enabled, user-responsive, mission-driven form of the academic library?” Like its predecessor, Beyond the Information Commons is structured in two parts. First, a brief series of essays explore the Information Commons from historical, organizational, technological, and architectural perspectives. The second part is a field guide composed of more than two dozen representative entries describing various Information Commons using a consistent format that provides both perspective on issues and useful details about actual implementations. Each of these includes photos and other graphics.

Our sources of information, and the practices we use to find it, are in a period of rapid flux. Libraries must respond by selecting, acquiring, and making accessible a host of new information resources, developing innovative services, and building different types of spaces to support changing user behaviors and patterns of learning. A Field Guide to the Information Commons describes an emerging library service model that embodies all three spheres of response: new information resources, collaborative service programs, and redesigned staff and user spaces. Technology has enabled new forms of information-seeking behavior and scholarship, causing a renovation of libraries that revisits the idea of the "commons"—a public place that is free to be used by everyone. A Field Guide to the Information Commons describes the emergence, growth, and adoption of the concept of the information commons in libraries. This book includes a variety of contributed articles, and descriptive, structured entries for various information commons in libraries across the country and around the world.

Creating a Learning Commons: A Practical Guide for Librarians also includes useful case studies, interviews, descriptions of equipment and new technologies, and models for planning, marketing, and assessing projects.

The Desk and Beyond is intended to provide a thorough exploration of the present and possible future applications of eleven of the most promising new reference delivery methods. In order to reflect the growing role of the digital environment while still respecting the importance of in-person interaction, a balance of physical and virtual methods has been maintained. This collection is intended to provide inspiration for potential reference services at your library; each chapter provides an introduction to an innovative service concept and an annotated list of sources for additional research.

This book examines successfully planned and implemented learning commons at several different academic institutions around the world. These case studies provide a methodology for effective planning, implementation and assessment. Practical information is provided on how to collaborate with campus stakeholders, estimate budgeting and staffing and determine the equipment, hardware and software needs. Also provided are memoranda of understandings (MOUs), planning checklists and assessment tools. This book reflects a unifying focus on both the evolution of learning commons to learning spaces and the collaborative aspect of co-creating learning spaces. Unique case studies representing very different types of Information Commons, Learning Commons, Faculty Commons and other Learning Spaces International breadth and depth is assured through inclusion of case studies from Canadian, New Zealand, Australian and European institutions in addition to six in the United States Practical checklists of planning and implantation considerations, as well as memorandum of understanding (MOU) templates, form the appendices

This book is the result of invited and competitive submissions to a 2015 academic institute on Advancing Geographic Information Science: The Past and Next Twenty Years. A core goal of the institute was to review the research challenges of the past twenty years and discuss emerging challenges of the next twenty.

The fifth volume in this series focuses on creating partnerships and developing new roles for libraries in the 21st century. It includes such topics such as consulting, coaching, assessment and engagement partnerships, university commercialization, adult student support, librarian-faculty partnerships in developing and supporting new academic courses, and creating and staffing the information commons. The concept of embedded librarianship is touched upon in the context of extending the role of the librarian outside the library. The chapters in this volume demonstrate that just as students are extending the ways in which they learn, librarians must embrace new roles and modalities if they are to provide the types of support required by patrons. A typical example of growing importance: massive open online courses (MOOCs) create challenges and opportunities as they are constantly evolving; they change fundamentally the way students interact with teachers, their fellow students, any course content, and existing or new library services. To survive, librarians need to be engaged in ways that push beyond current professional limits in order to better support the needs of learners. Doing this will not be an easy task, but one that librarians are certainly up to. It is hoped that this volume, and the series in general, will be a valuable and exciting addition to the discussions and planning surrounding the future directions, services, and careers in the 21st-century academic library.