Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Brian Mathews. You’re probably familiar with the concept of the dedicated Research Library — UCLA has a nice one. My dean and I have been soft pitching a new variation, which we call the Library Research Building. More...

By Brian Mathews. I’ve always been inspired by architecture studios on campus. There is an unmatched sense of camaraderie that develops by spending a lot of time working together in a shared space. I’ve seen variations of this, mostly for graduate students, where people have assigned desks, tables, or cubicles together often near labs or other work areas. Most undergrads, however, don’t have this available to them. More...

By Brian Mathews. I want to draw your attention to a forthcoming book: A Guided Inquiry Approach To Teaching The Humanities Research Project

• Randell Schmidt (head librarian at Gill St. Bernard’s School)
• Emilia Giordanois (assistant librarian at Gill St. Bernard’s School)
• Geoffrey Schmidt (director of curriculum and instruction at Phoenix Charter School)

The book was written for teachers, librarians, or students in high school or early college and explores how to research, write, and present a humanities research project and paper. More...

By Brian Mathews. I mentioned in an earlier post that we are framing our library commons as a showroom of knowledge. We curate an assortment of student output (every discipline in any format) and spread it across the library. We constantly refresh the content and aim to make it interactive when possible. More...

By Brian Mathews. A program I’m proud of at Virginia Tech is something we call Course Exhibits. The philosophy behind it is that there are all these great conversations happening behind the closed doors of the classroom—what if we could make that public. More...

By Brian Mathews. This first one was assembled by Paul who is now the Director of Academic Technology in the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at Stanford. The term “user experience” was being used to mean a lot of different things and so we tried to shape the context a little. More...

By Brian Mathews. I’ve been a long time fan of Lost in the Stacks – a weekly radio show out of Georgia Tech. I had a chance to catch up with Charlie Bennett (Undergraduate Programming & Engagement Librarian) and Ameet Doshi (Director, Service Experience & Program Design) about the show and how it has progressed since launching in 2010. More...

By Brian Mathews. I recently returned to Apple with an iPhone 6. It included the Heath App, which I had not seen before. It’s basically a pedometer although it has other features as well. I was curious about how far (or actually how little) I walked each day. More...

By Brian Mathews. I discovered The Winnower at an open access event at Virginia Tech several years ago. Josh Nicholson, a PhD candidate at the time, was on a panel session discussing the merits of OA. He recently earned his degree (cell biology) and is focused on building a publishing platform. More...

By Brian Mathews. Here is an interview with Ameet Doshi, Director, Service Experience & Program Design. He talks about moving the collection off-campus and the new types of spaces and services they are developing. It’s a very ambitious plan and I would expect nothing less from that library. More...