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Nora Agustero, Ph.D.

Information Commons: The Sheffield Experience

Nora Agustero graduated Cum Laude in AB Library Science at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City in 1981.  She finished her MS in Library Science at the Institute of Library Science, University of San Carlos, Cebu City in 1986 through a grant from the Fund for Assistance to Private Education.  She finished her Ph. D. in Information Studies at the University of Sheffield, England in November 2009, through a fellowship from the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program.  She is currently the Dean of the Colleges of Teacher Education and Arts and Sciences at Saint Columban College, Pagadian City.  

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to trace the development of the concept of information commons and its link to paradigm shift in teaching and learning nexus in higher education, describe samples of good practice focusing on the University of Sheffield experience of applying the concept to a facility of massive scale, and draw up implications for practice in academic libraries in developing countries like the Philippines. This paper is based on a desk research but takes on the perspective of a postgraduate student who had an actual experience of using the University of Sheffield's Information Commons as a user. Whilst the concept of information commons embodies the modern features of academic libraries and information centres, the University of Sheffield stressed that the Information Commons 'would not be constrained by the vocabularies of existing academic buildings' and that 'it is primarily about student learning and the resources and study spaces that support it, rather than about the technology or collection that it houses.' This paper is useful for librarians who are designing 'information commons' spaces in their libraries.