Media & Equipment Distribution Planning Document

Date: 12/2/10

Participants
Russell Colunga, Dick Montgomery and Tony Garza from Media Services; Laura Moody from IRIS; Debbie, Darlene, LaVonne and Thoreau from the building team.

Charge
“Recommend how media collections storage and distribution should be handled. Consider other equipment distribution and collaboration with Academic Technology.”

Library Consensus

Media Collection
There should be a merged media collection (AT and Library collections). The Library will assume responsibility for acquiring, processing, cataloging and distributing media to patrons within the Library. AT will continue to be responsible for cable casting media to classrooms  and other campus locations. Heavily used items will be stored on compact shelving (currently owned by AT). The rest of the media collection will be in the LRS.

Service Point
There should be a single Media and Equipment service point on the ground floor, in the space originally intended as the AT Media & Equipment Distribution Counter, which will serve both faculty and students. It should be staffed by a combination of Library and AT personnel. All media available through the Library, with the exception of special collections, will be picked up at the ground floor service point, regardless of where it is stored.

Services:

Equipment Lending
Equipment such as media carts and cameras, and potentially laptops, will also be distributed from this location.
Listening & Viewing Stations.

Dedicated listening and viewing stations will be located inside the Service Point area. Additional listening and viewing can be accommodated at computers in Info Commons ground and one.  Group viewing / listening will be in two of the collaborative workrooms (040E/H). Some of the other collaborative workrooms may also be provisioned to support viewing. See detail #3 drawing.

Open Questions for the Library
Combined Media and Equipment Service Point: How will this be staffed and managed? Will requests to pipe media to classrooms be handled here? How do we envision setting up the service desk and related furniture & equipment? See detail #2 drawing.
Access to Collection: Need to coordinate access to items in the collection for cablecasting and for checkout.
Group Viewing / Listening rooms: Need to coordinate reservations for these rooms for listening / viewing and general group study. Keep in mind when selecting room reservation system.

Equipment Distribution: Info Commons group leaning toward keeping laptop checkout in Media Services, but still an open question. We need a rough inventory of equipment that will be distributed from this location. Will any of the current equipment inventories (of AT and the Lib) be combined? Where will this equipment be stored? Would it make sense to ask for a door between 085 and 084A (the Info Commons Workroom)? Then we could charge the laptops in the Info Commons workroom and have quicker access to the commons if listening and viewing stations are located there.

Listening/Viewing Stations: What equipment and furniture needs to go in the two larger collaborative workrooms to support group viewing? See detail #3 drawing.

Staff Duties / Responsibilities: Who will be the primary supervisor for the media & equipment distribution service point? Who will be responsible for scheduling desk hours, particularly if staffing will be by both AT and the Lib?  Library staff with primary responsibility in this area: Russell Colunga, Dick Montgomery & Felix Garza

Office Space: Important for both Dick and Tony to have primary their primary work areas nearby. If the media collections are merged under the Library, can we ask that the Media Acquisitions and Rentals office (090) become Library space? What about the AT Distribution Manager and the AT Software Applications offices (088 / 087)?

Space enhancement:  We will need additional power to support listening / viewing stations near service point. We may want to add door between Media & Equipment and Info Commons Workroom.

AT Questions

Media Collection
How best to coordinate both the Lib and AT accessing the media collections: AT for cable casting, the Lib for checkout? Use the Innovative reservation module? Allow faculty to reserve up to X weeks in advance, but students only Y?

Service Point
What will be the breakdown of responsibilities between Library and AT personnel? How can AT staff be integrated into the service point staff schedule?

Equipment Lending
What equipment does AT currently checkout to faculty? Can we store Library equipment in AV Equip storage area (085)?

Staffing
Will staff currently assigned to AT be reassigned to the Lib?
Which AT staff in Learning Spaces & Media Distribution & Support will have primary workspaces on Ground?