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For decades, college and university libraries have been continuously renovating their space and replacing technology.\\xa0 But what would a 21st-century library look like if you could build it from scratch, with a $100 million budget?\\xa0 Two years ago, Calgary\\u2019s Mount Royal University got the chance to do just that!\\xa0 This week, Ken Steele talks with MRU Provost Lesley Brown and Dean of Libraries Meagan Bowler about the Riddell Library & Learning Centre.

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When it was announced that Mount Royal College would gain university status, the existing library was \\u201cwoefully inadequate.\\u201d \\u201cWe knew that we would have to build our collections, expand our services, and the information environment was changing in a rapid way,\\u201d Meagan explains.

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The new $110 million facility opened in 2017 as the new centerpiece of the campus, and also houses MRU\\u2019s Department of Education, Student Learning Services, the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and the Academic Development Centre for faculty. The furnishings, architecture and zoning are designed to be progressively quieter from floor 1 through 4, and student spaces range from purely introverted study carrels and cozy benches for two, through lounge spaces and walking desks. But the 34 collaboration rooms have been the biggest hit, constantly booked up by students.

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The MRU Library is a testament to active learning and emerging technologies. \\u201cWe knew that students weren\\u2019t just consuming information,\\u201d Meagan explains. \\u201cThey needed space and technology to engage with it, to mobilize it, to create it, to hack it up, to change it and to share it with other people.\\u201d The main floor \\u201cIdeas Lounge,\\u201d and a similar classroom, feature massive 6x3 screen touch-enabled visualization walls that allow groups to engage with multiple inputs simultaneously. \\xa0The building also includes a VR Experience Lab, audio recording suites, and media production studios. In particular, we\\u2019ll focus on the 360-degree \\u201cImmersion Studio\\u201d and the \\u201cMaker Studio\\u201d in upcoming episodes.

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The campus library is the \\u201cheart\\u201d of the university, explains Lesley, but also an \\u201cinterstitial space\\u201d for exploring teaching practices, accessing and engaging with new information and technologies. MRU centralized these facilities to make them available across faculties and departments, and for interdisciplinary work. But an effective library needs more than space and resources, emphasizes Meagan: it also needs the expertise of talented librarians. \\u201cIt\\u2019s a jungle out there in information-land,\\u201d she jests.

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Special thanks to Mount Royal University for hosting our visit and providing the videographers for this episode.

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In upcoming episodes, we\\u2019ll return to MRU to explore the Maker Studio and Immersion Studio in more depth. To be sure you don\\u2019t miss them, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/\\xa0

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And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

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