MSU President's Column for Traill County Tribune
February 10, 2018
The Byrnes-Quanbeck Library has an expanded role
Mayville State University continues to be strategic in providing personal service to students and to make the best use of university space. As a part of this endeavor, the Byrnes-Quanbeck Library has created space so that other campus entities that provide student services can do so within the library building, making the facility a one-stop shop for many services provided by MSU.
The library has traditionally collected a large number of print academic journals, newspapers, and magazines to meet the research needs of MSU students, faculty, and staff. As these materials have become available online via library databases and online subscriptions, the research habits of library patrons have changed. They would rather access those materials online. The library’s response has been to decrease the number of print subscriptions received and reallocate the funding to online resources. The B-Q Library now has full-text access to over 40,000 serial titles through online database subscriptions. Removing old serials has created a large amount of physical space in the library.
During the library’s renovation in 2007, the Education and Innovation Center (EIC) (formerly known as the Mayville Area Teacher Center) was moved into the library’s lower level to provide better access to STEM kits and other teacher resources. Since the move, the EIC and the library jointly received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to make MSU’s STEM kit collection more accessible for area teachers.
A few years later, the MSU Writing Center was relocated at the library so students could easily receive both research assistance and writing guidance in the same space.
In 2016, The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) was welcomed into the library facility. This started as a temporary solution to a space issue, but became a wonderful permanent opportunity. The library and ODI have worked together to bring authors to campus for special events. For example, they recently teamed up to bring Dr. Emily Knox to campus to present information on intellectual freedom during Banned Books Week.
Building on this trend, Information Technology Services (ITS) was relocated to the library this past summer. This move helped to solidify the idea that the library is the place students can go for help.
As things evolved, it became apparent that the one-stop shop services available within the library needed to have a name that would help students and others identify the new arrangements. The new and expanded services now available in the library building are known as “The Learning Commons.” The “Byrnes Quanbeck Library” remains a fully functional library that incorporates the services of “The Learning Commons.” The entities contained under the umbrella of “Learning Commons” include Information Technology Services, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Education and Innovation Center, and the Writing Center. When you visit the library, you will see some additional signage designating the one-stop shop, but the “Byrnes-Quanbeck Library” remains as the overarching name of the facility.
The Byrnes-Quanbeck Library is available for use by the public. Feel free to visit Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sundays from 6 to 10 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters. In the summer, the library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 701-788-4819.