Faculty
Apr 8th, 2009 by Chris Dixon
Any academic library is a reflection of the university community’s needs and aspirations. As we define new roles for an expanded Fenwick Library - the physical space and its programmatic aims - we hope to create a library with faculty in mind. Please let us know your past experiences at other academic libraries, your thoughts on the existing structure, and your needs for research and instruction at a main Fairfax library.
Join us for an Open Forum (held in the Johnson Center Library Instruction Room #228):
Wednesday, April 15th, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 28th, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13th, 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
This space will be used to pose questions to faculty members directly from Library planning groups and staff. We hope the resulting dialogue will foster innovative thinking and the resulting Fenwick facility truly reflects the needs of its users.
Tell us what you think:
- What about the current Fenwick Library is working or not working?
- How satisfied are you with the availability of any of the following resources?
Monographs (print)
Periodicals & Journals (print)
Electronic resources (e-journals, e-books or databases)
Access to librarians & staff
Group meeting spaces
Media production & technology
Exhibit space
Library instruction - What would you want to find in an expanded Fenwick Library?
- What learning or research opportunities exist on other campuses or at other schools that you wish could be established at GMU?
- What types of spaces should there be at Fenwick that are not there now?
My name is Dr Susan Crate- asst prof in ESP, trained as an anthropologist, presently conducting research on the cultural implications of Global Climate Change in Siberia, Russia, the Arctic & temperate world.
This is a particularly busy time of the semester for all of us but I have prepared some talking points to share and have come here with support from numerous faculty members who could not come as a result of end-of-semester crunches.
I am here today because of the Mason community’s commitment to greening our campus and the President’s signing of the climate commitment towards climate neutrality.
Considering these developments of the last five years, I believe we need to comprehensively and thoroughly consider our options for the library extension.
We are tasked to consider the ecological footprint of all our actions
-deforestation contributes 25% of carbon emissions that cause climate change
http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/strategies/art13747.html
-this forest sequesters many #tons of carbon
- there is other great value in these woods (how to value a forest?:
https://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-04.pdf
-provides other ecosystem services
-watershed protection
-airshed protection,
-home for several dozen species of birds—either year round or migrating
-home for a dozen species of mammals
-home to several dozen species of plants – native plants—mtn laurel, etc . .
-our last remaining forest in center of campus—
-provides us a sense of place—connects us to the nature of this bioregion
-provides values we don’t even realize—shade, aesthetics, etc . . . .
We need to implement the ethics of ecological economics and green design.
We need to learn how to build to both protect valuable resources, biodiversity, and carbon sinks, and design to maximize the building’s orientation to the sun and landscape, with elements that are more healthy for occupants and the earth.
There have been many changes at Mason in the last five years and I believe we need to accommodate and honor those changes.
-need to be true to our commitments
We need to walk the walk in all our affairs on this campus—we owe it to al the efforts of the last 5 years and to our President’s commitment—these are not just the things of signatures and websites to portray an impressive movement—but these are the things of action and a change in business as usual