Third-year medical students Nathan Wong, Anne Chen and Wilson Chan munched on lunch as they talked through their notes in a group study room at the Harrell Health Sciences Library, Research and Learning Commons at Penn State College of Medicine.
To study better, they could grab a marker and write on the white board walls of the room, turning them into one large study guide with great visibility. Or they could pull up a PowerPoint presentation from class on the large screen on another wall.
“These are good spaces for students to study together; there were none here before,” Chen said. “Now the library accommodates different types of study styles. There are still cubicles if you are a self-learner, but if you are a group studier, like us, you can use one of these new rooms.”
“Our old library was old looking; this is much more a place where you want to come,” Wong said.
Higher education is undergoing radical change and one place that change is on display is the newly redesigned Harrell Health Science Library, Research and Learning Commons.
Open to students since December, the library held its ribbon-cutting ceremony in February with about 100 people attending and celebrating the new, welcoming space.
Gone are the majority of library stacks filled with books and the study carrels interspersed throughout. A short row of compact shelving holds a small working collection of textbooks and books not available electronically and students find devoted technology spaces, study rooms that encourage collaboration and open spaces for mingling. There are still quiet areas and single desk spaces traditionally associated with a library, but the overall atmosphere caters to today’s students, who are much more collaborative in their study habits and projects.