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Purdue Libraries Host Big Ten Academic Alliance Library Conference May 16-17 (Photos)

May 17th, 2017

Purdue University Libraries faculty and staff have been proud to host the “Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference this week at Purdue University. Below are tweets and images from the #BTAALib17, which began Tuesday morning at Purdue.

Highlights also include tweets and photos from the Tuesday evening reception in Purdue University’s new Wilmeth Active Learning Center. Conference attendees were among the first groups outside of Purdue to tour the new building.

Purdue Libraries Dean Jim Mullins Opening #BTAALib17
Purdue Libraries Dean Jim Mullins Opening #BTAALib17
Lorcan Dempsey
Lorcan Dempsey
Assistant Director for Research / South Asian Studies Liaison Librarian Mary Rader, University of Texas Libraries, presenting, "Cooperative Collection Development & South Asian Studies."
Assistant Director for Research / South Asian Studies Liaison Librarian Mary Rader, University of Texas Libraries, presenting, “Cooperative Collection Development & South Asian Studies.”

 

Frank Dooley, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, Purdue University
Frank Dooley, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, Purdue University

 

#BTAALib17
#BTAALib17

Transformation Tuesday

Tuesday evening conference attendees were treated to a sneak peek inside the Thomas S. and Harvey D. Wilmeth Active Learning Center, which houses the Library of Engineering and Science, 27 classrooms designed for active learning (which will stay open after class hours to provide study space), data visualization and 3D printing resources, the Hiler Theater, group study rooms, computer work stations, 24/7 access (with Purdue University ID)… a few of the new building’s features.

The WALC, constructed on the former site of the Purdue Power Plant, which was used as a hands-on teaching facility for Purdue Engineering faculty and students, “represents the transformation of teaching and learning at Purdue.” The building features archival photographs of scenes from inside the former Power Plant. An audio tour (that can be experienced via an app on a mobile phone or through a website), which describes the murals and the artifacts showcased in the WALC, is an active learning resource that will be available when the building opens Aug. 7.

Active Learning in Purdue Power Plant, c. 1934
One of the murals in Purdue University’s new Wilmeth Active Learning Center. “Active Learning in Purdue Power Plant.”

 

The 2013 article, “Full Steam Ahead,” in “Leadership” (“The Magazine of the Purdue President’s Council), demonstrates a vision for the place the Wilmeth Active Learning Center will hold in Purdue University’s history.

“Where once a smokestack stood — an iconic symbol of another era — soon a new a structure destined to be equally representative of its historical moment will rise on Purdue’s campus horizon: the [Wilmeth] Active Learning Center.”

The article also describes Libraries Dean Jim Mullins’ vision for the facility:

“The dean was an early and persistent champion of the concept of a new centrally located ‘learning commons’ — integrated with library facilities and services — that will further reinforce Purdue’s national leadership as an innovator in emerging trends in active learning and collaborative study needs. Research shows that library facilities remain the top destination to study for undergraduates at Purdue, Mullins says. And because information literacy is embedded in the new core curriculum, Libraries faculty play a greater role in instructing students how to locate, evaluate and judge information’s accuracy and value.”

Below are more tweets and photos of the #BTAALib17 attendees’ visit to the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.

Mystery items from the former Purdue Power Plant. The view from where these items are located in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center overlooks the Grand Reading Room (and the Tuesday night reception hosted in the room during #BTAALib17).
Mystery items from the former Purdue Power Plant. The view from where these items are located in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center overlooks the Grand Reading Room (and the Tuesday night reception hosted in the room during #BTAALib17).

 

Purdue Libraries Dean Jim Mullins leads one of the tours of Purdue University’s new Wilmeth Active Learning Center during the “Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference.
Purdue Libraries Dean Jim Mullins leads one of the tours of Purdue University’s new Wilmeth Active Learning Center during the “Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference.

 

Sebastian Kenny (or "Kenny" as he likes to be called), a student ambassador in Purdue University Libraries, leads a tour of the Wilmeth Active Learning Center during the “Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference. Kenny and conference attendees are passing by an aerial photograph of the campus from 1934, when both Thomas and Harvey Wilmeth were students at Purdue. (Read more about the Wilmeths at http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q2/purdue-active-learning-center-named-for-engineering-alumni-wilmeth-brothers.html.) The photograph evokes Purdue’s Land Grant Roots and shows the location of old Power Plant (now where the WALC stands). In its day, the state-of-the-art Power Plant was a point of pride for Purdue and became a symbol for the land grant institution.
Sebastian Kenny (or “Kenny” as he likes to be called), a student ambassador in Purdue University Libraries, leads a May 16 tour of the Wilmeth Active Learning Center during the “Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference. Kenny and conference attendees are passing by an aerial photograph of the campus from 1934, when both Thomas and Harvey Wilmeth were students at Purdue. (Read more about the Wilmeths at www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q2/purdue-active-learning-center-named-for-engineering-alumni-wilmeth-brothers.html.) The photograph evokes Purdue’s Land Grant Roots and shows the location of old Power Plant (now where the WALC stands). In its day, the state-of-the-art Power Plant was a point of pride for Purdue and became a symbol for the land grant institution.

 

Attendees of the Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference enjoying a reception in the Grand Reading Room of the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.
Attendees of the Big Ten Academic Alliance Collective Collection: Leveraging a Legacy to Shape Our Shared Future” conference enjoying a reception in the Grand Reading Room of the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.
Filed under: general, Uncategorized, WALC