The Emory Infocommons: Services, Resources, Facilities

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The Emory InfocommonsServices, Resources,
Facilities

• Martin Halbert
• Emory Director for Library Systems
• Saturday, April 12, 2003
• ACRL 2003, Charlotte, NC

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What Drove Infocommons Evolution Nationally?

• Mid-90s Widespread emergence of the concept
  and initial implementations
• Late-90s Building closer relationships between
  library and technology groups
• 21st Cent Consolidation, streamlining, and
  workflow improvement

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Best FormulaBalance of Elements
Resources
Facilities
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Biggest IssueSpace versus Place

• Is the Infocommons a cyberspace or a physical
  place? Which predominates? Is this changing?
• If Cyberspace, are libraries (as conventionally
  organized) the best institutions to create and
  maintain these digital spaces? Are there any
  institutions that well situated for this role?
• If concept of The Great Good Place holds, how do
  we distinguish libraries from Borders?

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Key Emory IC Concepts

• Ubiquity (uniform interface present on all
  workstations, all resources available anywhere)
• Utility (comprehensive set of tools to support
  the entire process of scholarly inquiry)
• Flexibility (designed from its inception to
  accommodate new innovations as they emerge)
• Community (providing tools for joint work on
  projects in an environment that encourages
  sharing and group interaction)

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Photo - 3rd Floor
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Photo Typical Pod
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Photo Back of Ref Desk
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Webpage - Current Status