Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Librat Program At Cal Poly: Full Partners In Peer Learning, Brett B. Bodemer, Kaila Bussert

Library Scholarship

The LibRAT Program at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo was first piloted in 2010. Although the program has expanded in scope and depth, the key to its continued success has been a commitment to core principles discovered during its initial launch. To this day, the LibRATs (Library Reference Assistance Technicians) form a small cadre of intensively trained students who are treated with respect as adults and as undergraduates. Communication, learning, and responsibility are multidirectional, and the LibRATs are full partners in the success of the program.

The original design of the program was to post students in …

Anticipating The Future: The University Of Michigan's Media Union, Michael D. Miller

Robert E. Kennedy Library

The Media Union is a new facility that brings together information resources, information technology, and media production studios. It is unique in the blending of those resources into an integrated program serving the entire University of Michigan and supporting interdisciplinary collaboration. The Media Union anticipates the future not only by the proximity of its informational resources but by bringing together different types of information specialists to work collaboratively. The article provides a thorough description of the facility, its administrative structure, and examples of how pre-existing organizational units made the transition into the new environment.