Mount Royal University Library will complete a much-needed technology renewal over the course of the 2023 spring and summer semesters. In total, five spaces will be upgraded with cutting-edge audio visual technologies, including new display screens with integrated touch functionality and wireless room controls. The project is expected to conclude before students return to campus for the start of Fall 2023 classes.
The Riddell Library and Learning Centre, opened in 2017, turns six years old this summer. But despite the building itself being relatively new, much of the technology in the space’s dynamic learning environments pre-date the RLLC’s construction.
Justin Anders, the Library’s Director of Technology, says the project is a welcome renewal, given that much of the technology in the Library’s specialized spaces is approaching end-of-life.
“A lot of the technology in the Library’s teaching and learning spaces was purchased two years in advance of the RLLC’s opening,” says Anders. "Not only will the technology renewal replace failing and end-of-life technology, it will give faculty and students a much more seamless user experience."
In total, five Library spaces will be updated with the goal of improving instruction in the building, and modernizing experiential learning for MRU students.
“We are so glad to see this investment in the Library spaces,” says Meagan Bowler, Dean, University Library. “This renewal means that instructors and presenters will have more flexibility and control in what they share, in a simplified environment that will improve learning experiences for students and participants. Students and faculty will engage with and share information in a much more efficient way in these improved teaching and learning spaces.”
A new media wall installed in the Library's Archives and Special Collections will allow instructors to display and enlarge archival sources, such as this 19th century Tibetan wood printing block.
In the Archives and Special Collections, a media wall consisting of six large display screens has already been installed. The media wall gives Archivist Peter Houston the ability to project and enlarge archival sources when teaching, allowing students to zoom in on rare materials and view them in precise detail. When not used for instruction, the screens will display unique holdings and rare materials to visitors passing by the space, encouraging them to engage with items that normally require a visit to the Archives Reading Room to view in person.
“We hope that this new media wall will allow us to show off some of the treasures we have in our collections,” says Houston. “From medieval manuscripts to WW2 airborne propaganda leaflets, the media wall will help support the teaching that I and other faculty do in the space.”
Additional plans include replacing display screens in the Library’s Ideas Lounge and Visualization Classroom, integrating more seamless digital recording of classes and events, and installing suspended microphones with cameras that automatically point to lecturers in the room. Reflective glass on the far windows in the Ideas Lounge will be removed and replaced, reducing screen glare on the room’s main wall-to-wall display. The Ideas Lounge and Visualization Classroom will close from May 5 - June 2 while these renovations are completed.
Reflective glass will be replaced in the far windows of the Ideas Lounge, reducing screen glare on the room’s main wall-to-wall display.
“I can’t wait until the installations are completed,” says Anders. “It will be exciting to welcome users back to these spaces and allow them to do things that were previously not possible.”
The Library’s Formal Boardroom, which plays host to institutional meetings for departments and areas across campus, will also be updated. New touch screens installed on the space’s donor wall will provide seamless support for hybrid and virtual meetings. The updated screens will also function as whiteboards, allowing for notetaking and brainstorming to be shared remotely with virtual participants.
A concept of the technology renewal in the RLLC’s Formal Boardroom. Newly installed touch screens will function as whiteboards, allowing users to take notes and brainstorm with remote meeting participants.
While renovations are already underway in designated spaces, community members should take note that the Library will be unable to accept bookings in the Ideas Lounge, Visualization Classroom and Formal Boardroom from May 5 - June 2. Additional renovations in the Immersion Studio, the Library’s 360° projection room, are currently being finalized.
0 Comments.