Only rarely do librarians consider their users clown or jokers as suggested by the Stealers Wheel. We do, however, want to stay stuck in the middle with them and continue to be as relevant to their research and educational needs as we were when Harvard University President Charles William Eliott considered the Library as the heart of the University. Budgetary issues, technological advancements and new ways of teaching and communicating make this a challenge. Like many Universities, the University of Washington is involved in several initiatives to address this problem.  In the fall of 2010, the Research Commons was opened in the space formerly housing the Natural Sciences branch library. This is the first of several such spaces designed to connect with user individually or as groups. It provides flexible spacing and technology to help meet users research, teaching and learning needs. The Libraries has worked closely with the Graduate College to provide relevant programming aimed at graduate students. One particularly successful program includes lightning talks based on an interdisciplinary topic allowing graduate students experience in presenting research and get feedback on their presentations. Assessment of the space shows users are very happy with it and also suggests directions for the future.

Heart of the university or how to stay stuck in the middle with you

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.