AFA Committee Minutes for November 16, 2006

Present: S. Gilchrist, C. Patella, J. Schnurr, S. Sloan, and A. Lundquist


We spent the entire meeting brainstorming about the Information Commons. Here are some of the ideas that were suggested. We will have a joint AFA/EMT meeting on November 30 to discuss these and any other ideas we all may have.
·    Student workers complain about not getting enough hours. If we were able to open the Commons and have it staffed by student tutors, etc. they would be more likely to get all the hours they would like.
·    The Writing Center, Math Clinic, Foreign Language Lab, Computer Science Lab, tutors for all courses, including foreign languages could all be moved to a single space. In the future we may be able to increase the groups using this space to include the Women's Resource Center, a Multicultural Resource Center and resources for WILL students
·    The Learning Specialist, Kathy DeSanctis, would also need to be moved to this space. If we were able to make her position full-time she could also be the Director in charge of keeping the student workers organized, etc.
·    Anne spoke with Gary Aubin about the feasibility of opening a coffee shop in the Information Commons, Gary was happy to talk about all that the dining staff could do. Anne's vision is for a Borders like atmosphere, where students can drink coffee and study together - collaboratively learning.
·    Where to house the Information Commons? We took a field trip to view the space on the third floor of the library. We all agree that with a little bit of increased lighting the space would work great! If we were able to move the Rare Book room that space would even work for a coffee shop.
·    If the computer printers, along with more computers, were moved to this space students would be encouraged to use it. Plus, the library is already open fairly late so that the students would have increased access. It would have to have Wireless added as well.

Anne will work on a job description for the full-time position request to run the Commons. Cathy will work on figuring out how many hours student works use as compared to how many they have available.


Respectfully submitted,

Jaclyn Schnurr
Secretary Pro-Temp