UBC Library and Archives

Librarians as Information Providers and Facilitators: The Irving K.Barber Learning Centre as a Model for the Expansion of the Role of Academic Libraries in University-Community Engagement Singh, Sandra

Abstract

Like many of the world’s great public universities, The University of British Columbia has a long history of connecting with its local communities – individual faculty members, the industry-liaison office, co-op programs, the Continuing Studies department, and the Community Service Learning department are just a few of the places where the university has connected with community. The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre was conceived over 10 years ago as not only a reconfiguration of the old Main Library, but as an outward-looking Learning Centre that would also serve the people of British Columbia. At 250,000 sq ft, with its new entrance facing outward toward the province rather than inward toward campus, it was the largest symbol of the University’s commitment to community engagement. But what did that really mean, to be a Learning Centre for the province of British Columbia? And how could it do that from a campus that is nearly inaccessible to or at best inconvenient for even people living in the Metro Vancouver area, much less someone 2,500 km away in northwestern BC? Since the signing of the Centre’s Charter (http:// http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/about/charter.html) in 2004, The Learning Centre undertook its commitment to community engagement with sincerity and passion. Over the years, the Learning Centre’s approach to community engagement has evolved from fairly traditional academic outreach based on the idea that the university has wisdom and knowledge to impart, to a an approach that acknowledges the expertise and contributions of community and seeks to be motivated by community needs and priorities. The Learning Centre has provided the fairly traditional UBC Library with a way to contribute to the University’s maturing community engagement commitment through extension of services and expertise, as well as with the opportunity to consider how the library and its librarians can position their attributes and deploy their skills in new ways that evolve not only the role of the academic library in support of university-community engagement, but also how universities themselves engage with communities.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International