MARRIAGE, BROOKLYN STYLE:How the Library, the Faculty, and Administrative Computing Deliver Brooklyn College's Academic Computing Program

Dr. Barbra Buckner Higginbotham
Chief Librarian & Executive Director, Academic Information Technologies
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
2900 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11210
718-951-5342 VOICE
718-951-4799 FAX
[email protected]
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/library/bclib.htm

In 1994 Brooklyn College merged academic computing and the library under a single manager (the library director), in a single location (the library). In this unusual and highly collaborative model, most of the professional staff work in both programs. A faculty advisory committee gives direction and guidance. Faculty fellows receive released time to work in the academic computing program, and administrative computing staff provide significant technical support. Major initiatives include training and development opportunities for both faculty and students, and WebCore and the Virtual Core, programs which promote the use of technology in teaching. A new library building (occupancy date: 2001), housing the library, academic computing, and administrative computing, will function as the college's information and technological hub.

BACKGROUND

The College knew that it wanted the new Library that would be built to be the hub for what we term "the transmission and retrieval of knowledge." We understood that digital technology would enable us to realize that vision. And, it was abundantly clear that, to reach this goal, we would need to reexamine the structure and processes supporting the delivery of computing services on campus. We wondered, however, if the future was "now."

As the Provost, to whom the Chief Librarian reports, and the Vice-President for Administration and Finance began to consider new ways to manage computing at Brooklyn College, they found (as they put it) that the talent, enthusiasm, and expertise to deliver the academic computing program were already situated in the Library. There, I and Howard Spivak, my deputy, were already engaging in a number of academic computing ventures, outpacing the usual interests of librarians in this area. What if, the vice-presidents said to one another, we assign this line to the Library and with it begin to build a different foundation, one which will encourage the faculty to explore new technological territory? The College decided to strengthen its information technology program by placing new media, educational technology, faculty training and development for the electronic environment, audiovisual materials, and the Library under an Executive Director of Academic Information Technologies, ensuring a unified direction and the strategic use of valuable resources.

There were some stumbling blocks. The Library and administrative computing reported to different vice-presidents. And, as the Chief-Librarian-soon-to-be-Executive Director, I had certain requirements involving staff, equipment, and financial considerations. But these and other challenges did not deter the College from transferring academic computing to the Library; the decision was made to proceed immediately.

Today, even before the new building has been completed, situating academic computing under the leadership of the Library has resulted in several curriculum innovations. These include WebCore and the Virtual Core. Apart from these new curricula, the leadership in the Library complex also permitted us to install two state-of-the-art multimedia classrooms within the Library, and to begin building the Library Cafe, an internet cafe for our undergraduates.

The success of this experiment convinced us to proceed with our plans to situate administrative computing within the structure of the new Library, alongside academic computing, taking full advantage of the features within the new setting and the synergies existing among the two units. When we have completed the renovation and expansion in 2001, all major computing services will be located in the new Library. These will support all access, transmission, and retrieval of all "knowledge objects" and establish the Brooklyn College Library as a major resource within CUNY, the State, and perhaps nationwide.

With the design phase for the new Library building approaching completion, the College can now view from some comfortable distance that which it has put in place. Already, the new Academic Computing program has helped to enhance the use of technologies for teaching, learning, and communication in a number of ways. However, I would like to be clear at the outset that the Academic Computing program's achievements are shared achievements. We have received the unstinting support and assistance of the Provost, the Vice-President for Administration and Finance, and the Assistant Vice-President for Information Technology & Services.

THEMES

Partnering with administrative computing to deliver the academic computing program

• The team leaders from academic and administrative computing meet every other week to discuss issues that require common approaches and to resolve problems
• The administrative computing team leaders serve as ex officio members of the Advisory Committee on Academic Computing
• Administrative computing staff install, configure, and maintain equipment in faculty offices, including that distributed via the Faculty Equipment Grant Program
• Administrative computing staff are key to distance learning initiatives
• Administrative computing staff advise on all academic computing facilities issues, including the design of the multimedia classrooms, the Library Café, and the technical infrastructure of the new Library building
• We turn to administrative computing staff (who administer the large student labs) for help and advice on all issues relating to computer access for students
• Administrative computing seeks ACAC's recommendations on priorities for academic wiring projects
• Administrative and academic computing work together toward seamless support (what one might think of as "one-stop-shopping") for faculty computing

Ensuring that the academic computing program is faculty designed and faculty driven

The Advisory Committee on Academic Computing (ACAC)
ACAC's members, who are broadly representative of the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and performing arts, work together cohesively and spiritedly to ensure that academic computing at Brooklyn College has a strong faculty voice. Among its achievements are:

• Recommending awards under the Faculty Equipment Grant Program
• Sponsoring colloquia on using technology to teach
• Sponsoring a series of workshops on various academic technologies
• Mentoring the departmental Technology Representatives
• Developing a long-range plan for the academic computing program

I consider ACAC to be the real spirit of the academic computing program. The quality of their counsel, labor, and vision is at the core of everything good that we have been able to accomplish. It is impossible to imagine embarking on any new initiative without their sound advice.

The Technology Representatives
The Tech Reps ensure an even greater degree of faculty participation in the Academic Computing program by serving as ACAC's entree into the individual disciplines, representing departmental interests, and recommending on equipment and training. They also serve as mentors for peers who may not be as technologically savvy as they are.

The Faculty Fellows
This highly successful initiative is the invention of our Provost Christoph Kimmich whose idea it was to promote involvement in academic computing by buying release time each year from a few faculty who would spend some time working in the program.

The Faculty Equipment Grant Program
Each year, the Advisory Committee on Academic Computing has been asked to solicit and review proposals for special-purpose faculty equipment, and to advise the College administration on those that appear most promising. To date, this program has provided almost $1,000,000 for machines for faculty desk tops, the creation of student labs, and multimedia instructional "carts." This equipment has done a great deal to advance scholarship, teaching, learning, and communication at Brooklyn College.

Integrating Library staff and academic computing staff

Because the Library already had a vibrant Library Systems unit, headed by Dr. Howard Spivak, managing our complex computing environment, an active teaching and training program, and a cadre of skilled, technology-savvy librarians, it made sense to merge academic computing with the Library, rather than treating it as a separate entity reporting to the Chief Librarian. So, we built a Faculty Training and Development Laboratory and multimedia classrooms in the Library building, and a single team began to manage both Library Systems and Academic Computing. The same librarians who taught students began to teach faculty. Today, a good part of the Library staff works in both programs. Academic computing is a part of the Library, just as Technical Services and Information Services are.

Enlarging faculty training and development opportunities, including those for creating new media

The Faculty Workshop Series
In the spring semester 1996 we introduced a series of one- to two-hour faculty workshops designed to teach everything from scanning, to authorware, to building a home page, to PC and Mac computer basics. These sessions are offered either in the Faculty Lab (for smaller groups) or the multimedia classrooms. They are developed by Lab Manager Nick Irons and taught by Nick, student Lab employees, Library staff, and classroom faculty.

The New Media Centers Consortium
In March 1996 the College was admitted to membership in the prestigious New Media Centers Consortium, a group of academic institutions and hardware and software vendors created for the purpose of furthering the use of multimedia for instructional purposes. We were especially interested in linking Brooklyn's new media and distance learning developers with peers at member institutions, sharing with and learning from colleagues at other schools. Of particular value to us is an understanding of other members' experiences integrating new state-of-the-art technologies into an academic setting. Of equal importance are their evaluations of the equipment and software.

Fostering the use of educational technologies for teaching and learning

WebCore
One year ago, the Advisory Committee on Academic Computing introduced the WebCore initiative, a program providing training, equipment, connectivity, and a forum for faculty who develop Web materials for their Core courses. By the end of the spring semester, many faculty teaching in our 10-course interdisciplinary Core Curriculum had developed pages to support their courses. In the fall 1997, last year's "class" is this year's "faculty."

Fostering and supporting distance learning

Virtual Core
The Virtual Core initiative is a program supporting the development of Core courses for full Internet delivery. Many of the same faculty leaders from WebCore are also working in the Virtual Core. Support for VC faculty includes equipment, training, and released time. In the spring 1998 three Core courses will move from the traditional classroom model to a 2/3 classroom, 1/3 "virtual" pattern. The Library shares a faculty line with the department of Computer and Information Science whose incumbent, Dr. Lori Scarlatos, teaches in CIS and (in her Library/academic computing role) serves as the College's distance learning coordinator. The administrative and academic computing management teams serve on the Virtual Core Task Force. The Faculty Lab received a great deal of new equipment, enabling it to meet its new role as Virtual Core Development Center. Lab Manager Nick Irons manages the server that hosts the faculty pages and provides strong support for the faculty developers.

The TIIAP Grant
The Library has just won a $650,000 grant from TIIAP (Telecommunications Infrastructure and Information Assistance Program) to build Learning Cafes in four Brooklyn innercity high schools and develop a Web-based curriculum to juniors and seniors in these schools. This grant includes a significant sum of money to support faculty development for the development of Web-based courses. For more information, see the NTIA home page, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/index.html. WebCore and Virtual Core faculty will participate.

Designing and building facilities in support of academic computing

The Faculty Training and Development Laboratory
The Faculty Training and Development Laboratory (1,000 SF), located on the Library's lower level, opened in January 1995. As a facility for learning new technologies, creating teaching materials, and sharing research results, the Faculty Lab is consistent with the College's plan to place basic and high-use equipment on faculty desktops, but to locate costly, specialized hardware and software in a central facility where training and consultation are also available.

The Multimedia Classrooms
The multimedia classrooms came online in the spring semester 1997 (1,076 SF), one DOS-based, the other Mac. These spaces are located next door to the Faculty Lab, so that the Lab staff can supervise and maintain them. Faculty who need to teach in a multimedia or high-end computerized setting schedule these rooms, just as they would schedule a traditional classroom. Each classroom has 25 workstations and is fully networked. The multimedia classrooms were designed by this year's National Institute of Architect's Firm of the Year award winner Kliment and Halsband.

The Library Café We are about to begin construction on a third facility, the Library Café (6,000 SF). This space, located on the lower level of a building joined to the Library by a breezeway, will include a large number of networked, multimedia, high-end machines providing access to the Library catalog, other CUNY+ databases, the products on our local area network, and the Web. When complete, it will greatly expand student access to computers. This is important, because one of the major inhibiting factors for teaching with technology is the limited on-campus access our students have to the materials faculty create.

The Library Café will also offer study space and a caf� serving light edibles (coffee, croissants, and so forth). It will be a twenty-four-hour facility. When the Library is open students will be able to move with ease between the two facilities. At times when the Library proper is closed, the Library Café will provide a sort of "virtual" access to services and collections. This facility was designed by the architectural firm Thanhauser and Esterson.

The Library Project
The existing Library building, 175,000 NSF, is being completely renovated and a 100,000 NSF addition built onto it. Our architects are the team of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott (Boston) and Buttrick White & Burtis (New York City). Our technology consultants are Shen Milsom and Wilkie, also of New York City. Administrative computing will occupy the top floor of the addition, and we and they are working together hand in glove to ensure that the new facility is unsurpassed in its technological excellence.

CONCLUSION

Strong leadership is required as we approach the new frontiers technology invites us to cross. Unless we strengthen our efforts in academic computing, we cannot keep pace with developments that would enable us to enhance instruction and research. We therefore explored options and configurations consistent with available resources. And we found both the talent and the structure right here on campus -- in the Library. [Memorandum from Christoph Kimmich and Patricia Hassett to Brooklyn College Faculty and Staff, November 14, 1994]