Learning Resource Center Vision Statement

This is an initial rough draft of the LRC specifications attachment to the floor plan. This draft is done primarily in narrative form because the envisioned facility is so different from the current facility as to warrant justification for the variance.

This represents only a first whack at the specifications and is designed to provide initial guidance to various people working on the LRC in real time. The details are yet to be sorted out. This document does not address any collection issues or specifications. This is a furniture and hardware narrative.

In a remote Scottish sheep herding village, amidst ancient stone wall homes, sits a single climate controlled building filled with computers. In a land where stone monoliths point skyward, a lone round white dish shaped object sits outside the building pointed at an object in space. The villagers work for a New York City corporation. The data they need to work with arrives via the dish, their work is sent back via the same dish. The object the dish is focused on is called a satellite. Arthur C. Clarke first described the possibility of such satellites in 1947. The concept was deemed fanciful science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke now lives and writes in Colombo, Sri Lanka, sending in his latest drafts to European and American publishers via satellite. Arthur also attends numerous international conferences from his living room, via satellite. Computer programmers live deep in the back woods of Oregon writing programs for distant corporations. Sales managers operate from mobile offices in their vehicles, offices equipped with cellular telephones, cellular fax machines, and portable computers satellite linked to distant warehouses and suppliers. Researchers search distant collections of information from their desks. Students at the University of Illinois first perform potentially dangerous chemistry experiments on a computer. Once the student has mastered the subtleties of the experiment, then the student performs the actual laboratory. Chemists now spend more time working with computer models than with actual experiments. The computer allows the chemist to test a variety of possibilities before taking the best results into the more expensive world of the actual laboratory. Another project first teaches electricians the ins and outs of working with high voltage lines on a computer with real time video before the electrician attempts the actual field work. A recent article in Popular Science outlined the obsolescence of factory style school and the ability to return education to where it originally occurred: in the home, using technology.

Understanding the evolving nature of work in a technological world is crucial to understanding the vision for the Learning Resource Center at the COM–FSM National Campus at Palikir. The Scottish village is able to earn outside income while preserving their way of life and the clean air necessary to the fine Scottish wool their sheep produce. In office work, business, research, writing, and education technology is altering the patterns of life. Workers in the developed world are leaving the cities and scattering back out into the world. Why live and work in the pollution of Los Angeles when one can live and work in the Teton mountains of Wyoming while doing the same challenging jobs via networked computers. Why live in Kansas City when one can live in Pohnpei for that matter?

This is a vision of a nation which doesn't look to concepts like harbor destroying canneries to create miserable and boring jobs, but which looks to be a part of the growing worldwide industry of information. Given a choice between a career of putting fish into metal cans and Kansas City, who wouldn't choose Kansas City? The FSM is uniquely capable of pursuing such a vision, of literally being a nation based on technology. Our students have proven in classes to be comfortable with computer technology. Phone lines now link every corner of Pohnpei and Kosrae. Small dish satellite technology can deliver computer networks to the smallest atoll in the FSM.

The concept of environmentally sustainable development is a core concept to the future vision of this nation. Coupled with that should be the idea of culturally sustainable development. Technology provides the ways and means to earn national income while minimally impacting the environment and the culture. Technology may provide work options such as flex time schedules and worker interchangeability with proper planning. If Kenye has to attend a funeral, Shrue can slot in at the keyboard to cover. Technology provides the potential to shape the workplace to the worker, rather than the worker to the workplace.

COM–FSM will be a critical component in the movement towards this future, the engine that first carries the nation towards this future. COM–FSM will have to be an integral part of the global electronic village, for in the beginning only COM–FSM is likely to be able to carry out the mission of educating the workforce for this new world.

There is a second reason for advanced technology at COM–FSM, and that reason sits on a decaying wooden bookshelf on the second floor of an elementary school in Malem, Kosrae. On the wooden bookshelf is a five year old math text that is intricately riddled with paper doily like holes and patterns. When the book is picked up, half of the book falls into the air as digested dust. Outside the building the humid air hangs heavily. There buried in the persistent mud of Malem is a plastic bag half buried five years ago. The plastic garbage is intact for all its exposure to the elements. CD-ROM disks are plastic. Plastic is almost forever. In the tropics, plastic is better.

In recognition of the changing work place, the United States National Science Foundation has inaugurated a multi-million dollar project to develop Advanced Technical Education as a new component of technical education. Adjusting a computer controlled fuel ignition sequence on a modern car is as much a computer programming task as what is traditionally thought of as automotive mechanics.

The Learning Resource Center will be an electronic collection and electronically connected. Meeting the former needs will require multimedia capable computers which currently implies CD-ROM technologies, meeting the later will probably be accomplished through PeaceSat linkages.

While the following document focuses on the "library" component of the LRC, the distinction between "AudioVisual" and the "library" is made only by the current structure. A library is a place that contains accessible information. Information is increasingly found in various hybrid formats. In the future the library will be AV and AV will be the library. There were those who decried the disappearance of beautifully hand crafted parchment scrolls, no two were alike, when Gutenburg made possible the book. Others expressed concern that the conversion of colorful and interactive oral histories into dry, immutable and passive written scrolls represented a diminishment of human capabilities and knowledge. Each method of transmitting information to the next generation has had its day and then passed. Books are no more sacred than oral history or scrolls, they too will pass.

AudioVisual

That area which is currently referred to as "AV" will house the PeaceSat downlink. This equipment will be linked to at least three separate areas, one of the audiovisual classrooms, the preview room, and a corner of the "library" proper.

The audiovisual classroom link will permit long distance education, permitting courses to be beamed into and out of COM–FSM. Students here would potentially be able to sit in on classes originated from University of Guam, University of Hawaii, Louisiana State University, University of the South Pacific, Murdoch University, and Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie Der Wissenschaft. Conversely, students in Germany could attend classes originating here.

The link to the preview room would permit small classes and video conferences to be conducted.

The link to the library proper would be a link to five computers in the library, permitting on-line linkages to foreign libraries and document sources. Part of our ability to meet four year requirements with respect to library resources will be met by demonstrating that what we do not possess we can obtain electronically. There are now universities in the United States which are literally scanning in their whole collection. There is the very real possibility that any text needed by a four year university will be available by computer.

All three of these links will require the inclusion of computer cable raceways, probably in the ceiling, to carry the necessary coaxial cables and lines.

The audiovisual area will also require video editing equipment interconnected to multimedia computers with color scanners, printers and photocopiers. Some of this equipment should be interlinked with PeaceSat so that conferees and classes can download documents in real time. One of the computers on the PeaceSat net should also contain a computer fax board.

The future of printing is so intertwined with other audiovisual areas, especially in the potential overlap of equipment, that there is economic sense in integrating the current print shop operation into this audiovisual center. Publishers in the U.S. now do all of their layouts on computer and then ship data files out to distant automated printing presses which are at geographically efficient locations. Small press runs are handled by heavy duty color laser printers, which are currently on a downhill run in price from $50,000 to $10,000, with no bottom in sight yet.

General Circulation/Periodicals/Reference Collection

The change to an electronic library is planned as an evolutionary change. The LRC is a mix of book shelves and electronic technology platforms.

The general collection area consists of five 20 inch back to back metal shelving units of various lengths, a single shelf unit with a solid back which acts to enclose the periodicals area, and an oversized books shelf. Metal shelves are not prone to the ravages of termites and wood ants. Proper coating will retard rust.

There are 25 individual study carrels arranged along the windows, as well as study space at a central table area.

A third table has 22 word processing computers and a laser printer on it. The laser is connected to a single computer and a card reader is attached to the laser. This computer is dedicated to printing. The cards will be vended from machines along the wall behind the main circulation desk. Users will be charged something on the order of fifteen cents a page. The cards are similar to the FSMTC telecom phone cards. Power to supply 22 computers and a laser will have to be run down the post across the table from the laser printer. All computers will be hooked into combination back-up/line conditioner units. A distributed system of battery back-up line conditioners will be the most efficient and flexible.

A video camera keeps an eye on the carrel corner into which there are no sight lines from the main desk. The known history of books being mistreated and even cut up makes this intrusion into privacy an unfortunate necessity.

The aisles must be 42" wide to allow for wheelchair access. A xerocopier is located next to the main circulation desk. All xerocopiers must be able to copy books without breaking the spines of the books. Special "edge mounted glass" copiers exist at little additional cost. All xerocopiers will utilize the same debit cards as the laser printers. The card readers can recognize a "pass key" card which can be used by library staff. In some schools in the United States, faculty are issued "pass key" cards by their departments. Such systems help departments track their copying costs as the "pass key" cards are frequently simply cards with 400 and 600 "copies" loaded onto them.

Behind the main circulation desk sits a long table with four card catalog computers and two printers. This table must be of a height that allows a wheelchair user to access the card catalog computers.

The various computers connected to the card catalog will be local area networked by the "B" line of the phone system. This means placing phone jacks at every computer which accesses the card catalog. A file server will be placed probably near the PeaceSat downlink equipment. This area will be staffed by technicians who will oversee the downlink and file server. Small but sturdy locally made stools will be used here.

Between the user card catalog computers and the wall will be a set of comfortable lounge chairs and two locally made tables. This will be a place for the pre-Nintendo^® generation to curl up with a good book and read. The author is a member of this esteemed generation.

Where wood furniture is required, local labor should be contracted.

A telephone was sketched in onto the back wall behind the main circulation desk in an early blueprint. This telephone should be located in the front vestibule outside the two front doors. The prospect of the phone ringing in the library or of students leaning on the wall and talking for hours on end is not in keeping with the decorum of a library. A photocopier will be placed where the telephone was slated to be.

Across the main door entranceway in front of the main desk are electronic security gates. All books will be tagged with electronic security tags. The security gate cannot be a subway turnstile type of affair as it must be of a type that admits wheelchairs. These are readily available.

If electronic security is not to be included in the library, then the consensus is to abandon the project. This is not a baby with the bath water response, the library cannot function without electronic security.

The periodicals area will have two CD-ROM multimedia computers connected to a high volume laser printer. The laser will have a card reader. The periodical librarian will have a CD-ROM/card catalog accessing computer and a printer. There will be a card catalog computer for users, two microfiche machines (one printing) and two microfilm machines (one printing). A xerocopier is located here as well.

The reference area will feature four shelving units, a locally made table to hold 16 to 18 students, and the computer resources area.

The computer resources area will include a librarian's station. In the station will be a wall shelf to hold CD-ROM disks and other electronic media of various formats. Examples currently extant are 3.5 inch disks that hold all of Mark Twain's works and letters, 12 inch "laser disks" that contain the complete art collection of the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art with accompanying hypermedia computer cross referencing database, and various encyclopedias and references on CD-ROM. This technology may evolve and mutate with time, this area should have the flex to evolve with the technology. There is likely to be available both virtual reality (VR) software and low cost VR headset equipment by 1996.

CD-ROM music disks can also be stored in this area. Two of the CD-ROM computers should be equipped with MIDI boards for music composition. Many multimedia computers will play the musical CD disks.

The CD-ROM desk will have to have headphones which can be connected into the jacks on the multimedia computers and VR headsets as available.

The vision here is that the world of a tropical island is an inherently limited world. VR will allow our students to stroll down a street in Vienna, Austria, to explore the Titanic via JASON, or to participate in a Inuit Eskimo ice-fishing expedition.

Three of the computers in this area will be multimedia machines linked to PeaceSat and through PeaceSat will have access to resources external to the FSM. A fourth computer will also be a multimedia machine hooked to PeaceSat, but it will be dedicated to printing on an attached high speed industrial strength laser printer with a card reader attachment. This fourth machine should have the hottest modem available on the market, a massive and fast RAID 5 hard disk array on local bus all driven by multiply parallel RISC technology. The translation is that this machine will be used to download and then print out whole books.

There is also the distinct possibility that PeaceSat simply won't be robust enough or available enough to handle the load. With transmission rates now at 28,000 baud and with 56,000 running in the laboratory on voice lines, there is a real possibility of moving text across phone lines as economical rates. The cost of data line should also be explored. Land Grant is said to currently have a data line. And other possibilities may surface. A satellite was lofted to a position just West of Ecuador last year which will allow North Americans to use a pizza pan sized satellite dish to receive 150 channels. There are surely possibilities of which we simply unaware. Thus these computers should be whatever hardware is required to be on-line in the most efficient ways possible.

Part of the logic behind having the first three on-line computers is that they may be connected through different channels. One may sit on PeaceSat, one on a data line, and one may be directly linked to a second dish and through that to a second satellite.

The fifth computer linked to on-line resources is a machine also connected to the card catalog and is on the CD-ROM librarian's desk.

External access to our own card catalog ought to be provided for as well.

Audio tapes will be held with videotapes in the audiovisual section. This is area that is undergoing such rapid evolution, including Digital Audio Tapes and a 2.5 inch writable optical disk technology that Sony is bringing to market this year. Cassette tapes may be simply an archival resource held on the second floor.

This evolution in technology also carries with it the risk of loss of information. An early task of the library will probably be transferring data such as recordings held on cassette or reel-to-reel tape into newer formats. Equipment to facilitate this data transfer should be held in the audiovisual department.

Chairs should be provided for all carrels and tables.

The main circulation desk should have a book drop bin for the return of books. If possible, a night book return drop slot ought to included in the LRC.

There is foreseen a potential security problem if students can walk out through the AV area with books that have not been checked out. The placing of an electronic security gate at this doorway may be problematic. The door itself appears to be at the location of the multimedia CD-ROM librarian's desk gate. This AV access should be used only by library staff and on rare occasion faculty. Others will have to get their exercise and walk around the building. A covered walkway exists in the current blueprints towards this end.

Maybe benches could be sat outside the front door.

Second Floor

An electronic gate secures the Pacific collection reading room in front of the librarian's desk. There are two xerocopiers and five card catalog computers. One the tables in the Pacific reading room are two multimedia computers and four word processing computers. These are spread out across the three tables.

Power will have to be run to these three tables.

Tables are preferred to carrels as most researchers tend to sprawl out over a good deal of space. Our library is simply too small to allow the private carrels which are held for a term by a researcher. In Micronesia, we join in around one table. Researchers in the current library get frustrated by the occasional meetings held in the Pacific collection room. The LRC will have a conference room for these activities.

The Pacific collection reading area and the government documents reading area will be extreme silent study areas for students as well as research areas. The students will benefit from sitting next to a senior researcher: the senior researcher will be a role model exemplifying the proper use of a library and the power of a library.

Video cameras will watch the back corners of the Pacific collection and the government documents area.

Computing resources tables

Fixed Assets and Decor

Physically, the library consists of metal shelving, locally made wooden tables and carrels, hard surface flooring, acoustical tile ceilings, and local art materials as wall hangings. Hard floors are far more functional in the tropics. Tiles may, however, be problematic as they tend to deglue and pop up in the tropics. There has been a suggestion made to use roll vinyl flooring as is done in local homes. This aspect of the library appears to need further thinking. If roll vinyl is sufficiently durable, then ought to be considered. Wood parquet, however, is clearly out.

Runner indoor-outdoor carpeting, such as is used in the Joeten library can be used to help muffle echo noise. Such runners are easily replaced once mildewed beyond redemption.

Light passing drapes, of an open and airy nature should be used so that the drapes can remain drawn. This is cut down on echo noise. The drapes should be a shear curtain, a light weave, such that one sitting at the carrels can see through the drapes to the outside world. Thus some of the book damaging sunlight will be cut down, and the sound deadening qualities of the drapes will be maximized, yet there will ample light flowing in through the curtains.

Lighting should be fluorescent. Over the tables, incandescent track lighting should be used to ease the harshness of fluorescent light. Lighting in the multimedia computer area will have to be carefully planned to avoid screen glare.

The windows behind the one section of the multimedia computers in the reference area should be tinted to cut down on screen glare. There exists the possibility that heavier drapes might have to be used here, or possibly thin venetian blinds.

The LRC must have a back up generator capable of handling the air conditioning load as well as the lights and electronic resources. This will require that the library is on a separable electric circuit.

A faculty survey has identified Pacific art, Pacific art, and Pacific art as a must addition to the library. The walls should be festooned with art.

The second floor outfits like the first floor.

Library Survey Results which impact other units

The cafeteria will actually be on and in campus. The cafeteria could be a place to grab a cup of coffee and a donut while studying or between classes. Between eight and five the cafeteria should be open to all faculty, staff, and students as a snack and study facility. Look at this as an opportunity to make money while meeting the needs of the students. This concept should not be hidden from the Pohnpeian public. No stores make more money on soda than the stores across from schools. Already there exist plans to cash in on the Palikir campus. The storeowners will cry foul if they feel the cafeteria is robbing them of their market. By making clear early the intention to run an open daytime cafeteria, we are announcing our intent to be in the market. Potential store builders can then decide whether to commit to major investments in Palikir.

Some students use the current library as a locker in which to store books during the day. The students may need somewhere to secure their belongings while on campus. The LRC ought not function as a locker. Maybe coin operated lockers could be installed somewhere...

The faculty want a working xerocopier accessible to them. In the library survey, many assumed this should be in the library. At Palikir there is a building for faculty offices, the faculty copier should be there.

Every member of faculty must have a computer on their desk. This is simply a tool of the trade. Each member of faculty ought to be given the choice between a laptop and a desktop.