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ALSO
IN THIS ISSUE Beyond Books Designer's Challenge Improving Mother Nature Bach to the Future Chancellor's
Page Development News Factoids More Factoids Accidental Heroes Newsmakers |
Beyond Books She was trained as a traditional librarian, but Cecilia Cheung came to champion technology for this new learning center.
PRIME LOCATION; Nestled into an incline at Park (formerly 12th Ave.) and B, the three-story Learning Resource Center enjoys commanding views of the Coronado Bridge and downtown high rises. Cecilia Cheung’s “baby” is three stories tall and 67,000 square feet. It is the new City College Learning Resource Center (LRC) and she is the dedicated librarian who has carefully nurtured the project since it since it was just a dream more than 10 years ago. Through stops and starts, money woes, bond gains and an avalanche of technological changes, Cheung gently pushed until the center doors at last swung open. "It started all those years ago, with a capital outlay request that was proposed and approved," Cheung said. "We had to send the proposal through two times, but it passed –– after more than 10 years of anticipation, it finally arrived." Cheung has been with the district since 1988. Born in Macau and raised in Hong Kong, she arrived in the United States in 1969, earning her master's degree in library science at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Cheung learned early on that the greatest job satisfaction was helping students capitalize on their own research skills, in effect fine-tune those skills to better accomplish complex projects. "When students show their appreciation for the art of research, where perhaps before they hadn't realized how rewarding research can be, that's the ultimate achievement," Cheung said. After serving as a librarian at the State University of New York, Old Westbury for several years, Cheung became head librarian at a college in Bakersfield before moving south to San Diego. It was her earlier work as a librarian that helped Cheung realize all the tools a good learning center needs to best support student learning. "The background and preparation for libraries are not as simple as some people might think," Cheung said. "Libraries have gone through so many changes. They rely more heavily than ever before on automation. Librarians need more teaching skills because students need the upgraded research skills to make them more competent researchers." All of these items were factors as Cheung and the enthusiastic City College staff and administration moved forward on the Learning Resource Center. The LRC opened Sept. 3, housing the library; the Independent Learning Center; the Tutorial Learning Center; the Center for Reading, Writing, English as a Second Language and Critical Thinking; the Mathematics Center and expansive reading and computer areas. "The biggest change since inception is that we continued to add more room for technology," Cheung said. "In 1992, we had planned for 12 public access computer stations, and now we have 35 stations. Altogether, the three floors of the center have 350 Internet-enabled workstations. Most of the changes we made over the years involved upgrading the infrastructure with technology. The design stayed the same, except for the roof. We originally planned for a sail roof that resembled the roof at the San Diego Convention Center, but that turned out to be a little expensive for our appropriation." Instead, the center emerged with its own striking characteristics. It's a modern, majestic, sweeping beauty of a building that is the campus jewel, expertly complementing the surrounding scenery and offering a spectacular view. "Most of the appreciative comments we get are on how beautiful the building is, the vista it provides," Cheung said. The move involved gradual transfer of equipment and supplies from the antiquated former library. "We still need furniture to fill out the building, and we're gradually developing more reading areas and computer stations," Cheung said. "There are things still on the agenda, but what a change from 12 years ago. It's a new era of research for our college."
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DESIGNERS' CHALLENGE: What the architects have to say. MORE INFORMATION: Visit the Learning Resource Center online. |
