News and Events

The start of a new year draws us to think of what is ahead.   This issue of In Circulation highlights several services and information resources that have been introduced to improve convenience to access ideas and build Drexel’s connections to scholarship.  Here, I foreshadow initiatives that are on the horizon.

Design work to renovate W. W. Hagerty Library is well underway as architects from Kling Stubbins, Drexel planners, and librarians begin to translate into plans the ideas for modernized facility that emerged last year. Last spring, faculty, students, and staff helped to articulate a learning environment that enables focused, self-directed learning which this centrally located library space can uniquely provide. Flexible use of space, convenient access to information experts and key physical collections, as well as inviting lighting and aesthetics are among the desired factors that will improve learning in the library.

Space for study is so obviously a high commodity in the libraries and innovative approaches are being explored to embellish other existing informal study spaces around campus with access to the Libraries experts and resources.   Librarians with laptops are experimenting with positioning themselves in lounges where students converge, and to offer guidance in accessing or utilizing information. Additional locations for embedding the Libraries through these “roving librarians” are being identified.

Three-dimensional information – digital images of objects – will soon be resource to explore in the Libraries. With advice from faculty, our staff are investigating ways to offer “printing” 3-D objects as a tool to visualize data and communicate ideas differently than through text or illustrations. Equipment has arrived and later this term we aim to provide this information “sandbox.”

Excitement is in the air in this New Year as we look to share the innovative spirit with you.

Danuta A. Nitecki, Ph.D.
Dean of Libraries