Project

EdLab has been tracking developments affecting the future of libraries with a special interest in the implications for the renovation and future development of the Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College, the world’s largest library dedicated to the study of education. Because EdLab is located within the Gottesman Libraries this project has special relevance and immediate opportunities for applying the results of investigations and analyses.

Efforts began during the 1999-2000 academic year with a series of seminars devoted to exploring the future of libraries, particularly those in academic settings. These seminars led to the identification of three new roles for academic libraries:

• A center of technology to support scholarship


• An intellectual social center


• A source for content and services beyond the campus

EdLab has been instrumental in positioning the Gottesman Libraries to play these new roles. EdLab designed PocketKnowledge, a digital archiving system that gathers and organizes the intellectual property of the college community as a foundation for further academic work. EdLab developed the Collaboration Support System to enhance the physical library as a "campus crossroads" to facilitate academic exchanges. EdLab created the Document Delivery System to provide access to course materials to students anywhere in the world.

EdLab staff have played a continuing role in the design of the renovation of Russell Hall to support next-generation library services. Led by the Media Design Group, EdLab staff have worked to enhance the design of the already renovated floors of Russell Hall through additional signage, technology, and furnishings, and they have been heavily involved in planning for the renovation of the fourth and fifth floors.

EdLab@tc.columbia.edu