By Suzan Parker, Venta Silins & Mark Szarko

A view of the 58-acre wetland restoration project.

When Cascadia Community College was still in the planning stages, the Washington State Legislature decided it would be collocated with the University of Washington, Bothell. The two institutions would share certain services, such as the 43,000-square-foot library and media center. Collocation takes advantage of the cost savings of one staff, one collection and one library building for the approximately 1600 Cascadia students and 1300 UWB students (FTE estimates for 2003-2004).

The CCC/UWB campus is unique in Washington as the only fully collocated campus in the state and one of only a handful in the United States. Students, faculty and staff from both institutions have access to the University of Washington Libraries’ six million-volume collection and full computer services in the Campus Library’s Information Commons. The Media Center serves the academic goals of UWB and CCC by supporting the use and integration of media and technology in the classroom and throughout the campus.

Library staff members provide services to all students regardless of institutional affiliation. While the needs of community college and university library users may differ in some ways, we attempt to make accessing our services as seamless as possible for all UWB and CCC students, faculty and staff. One strategy that has been particularly helpful has been to assign each librarian responsibilities as a liaison to both institutions. For example, the Humanities librarian works with English classes at CCC, and with “Culture, Literature, and the Arts” classes for the UWB’s Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences program. Librarians also serve on committees for both institutions. These strategies have helped to create bridges between the two institutions, and to ensure that no matter who is working at the Information Commons desk, the student, faculty, or staff member will be treated equitably and will sense that this is a user-centered, rather than institution-specific, library and media center.

The reading room.

The Campus Library’s tradition of an active and involved library program continues on the new campus. Library instruction for both Cascadia and UWB is predicated on the principle of frequent collaboration between faculty and librarians. Librarians work closely with faculty at both institutions to design course-integrated instruction that introduces key information literacy concepts at the point of student need. As much as possible, these sessions grow out of the course material for the individual class, and librarians and faculty usually share the classroom while working with students.

Such collaboration often extends beyond individual librarians and faculty. Others in Academic Services, such as the directors of the Writing Center and Quantitative Skills centers at UWB, participate in the planning for classes. Librarians also participate in curriculum planning at both institutions, further ensuring that information literacy remains integrated into many of the course offerings. Regularly scheduled teaching meetings allow librarians to discuss instruction, and many take advantage of teaching and learning workshops held at both institutions to further develop their teaching skills.

The UWB/CCC Campus Library has two dedicated computer classrooms that librarians can schedule for information literacy instruction workshops. Both rooms have an ePodium containing a computer, VCR, and DVD/CD player as well as ports for peripherals such as laptops and document cameras. Student workstations provide access to the Internet and selected Microsoft Office software applications (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel). These library classrooms are in high demand, with some classes starting as early as 7 a.m. or running as late as 10 p.m.

The relocation to the new campus also provided an opportunity to review circulation and reference services. For example, the main desk was designed to function as a single point of service. Patrons now access a number of services from one place, including reference, circulation, reserves, document delivery, and group study room reservations. This service model allows students to ask any staff member a question and know they will be directed to the person who can answer it.

Research questions are referred to librarians in the Information Commons, a space that includes 50 scholar’s workstations. These terminals provide access to the UW Libraries Catalog, over 150 databases, selected computer applications and the Internet. The Campus Library’s print reference collection is also located in the Information Commons. Rather than waiting for patrons to come to them, librarians maintain an active presence in the Information Commons by interacting with and providing research assistance to students working at their computers. 

The Library has hired student technology consultants to provide support for students’ use of technology within the Information Commons and assistance to remote users via telephone and email. The technology consultants follow a similar model of service as they help patrons with technology-related problems. To make more effective use of the patron’s time, both librarians and technology consultants will refer an individual to the appropriate person, depending on the nature of the question.

Future plans for the Campus Library and Media Center include increasing our involvement with Distance Education classes, exploring ways to effectively market and assess programs and to create a formalized information literacy curriculum for Cascadia. 

We are interested in collaborating with our colleagues from other libraries in the region. Please let us know if you would like to visit the new Campus Library and Media Center.

Suzan Parker and Mark Szarko are reference librarians and Venta Silins is a reference librarian and outreach coordinator at Cascadia Community College and University of Washington, Bothell.