Alison Armstrong
Associate Director for Research and Education
The Ohio State University
The key to the successful launch of Ohio State University Libraries’ (OSUL) newly opened Research Commons (RC) is partnership development. Our tag line, “Connect. Collaborate. Contribute.” has served as an action plan and rallying cry. OSUL was determined from early on to create a suite of co-located services that taken together would advance researchers’ agendas in the areas of lessening pain points, promoting interdisciplinary team work, showcasing output, and highlighting impact. Using the research lifecycle of planning, conducting, publishing, and measuring impact as the conceptual underpinning for services and partnership development, conversations around campus began early in the design process to identify key constituents and to create user stories, especially in areas where new services were being developed such as data management, geographic information systems, and digital humanities. Partners who came onboard early in this process now have a consistent presence in the Research Commons and also serve as advocates for our space and services to researchers at different levels and in different disciplines across Ohio State. This presentation will highlight how creating a network of partners, integrating feedback, and exploring use cases drove the iterative development and deployment of services, spaces, and technology that facilitate purposeful discovery and innovation.
Co-Authors: Joshua W. Sadvari, Research Commons Program Manager & GIS Specialist; Meris Mandernach, Associate Professor and Head of Research Services
https://library.osu.edu/researchcommons/
Presentation (PDF)
[…] me better understand the academic potential for makerspaces. The final space related session was a presentation by Alison Armstrong from Ohio State about their research commons that just opened at the beginning of 2016. The target […]