Theme II:
ASSURING A STUDENT ORIENTED CAMPUS:
The Morton & Angela Topfer Libraray Cafe

The Morton & Angela Topfer Libraray Cafe

"On its busiest days, the Library Café averaged more than 900 students daily (from Monday through Thursday). The bulk of these students used the Library Café at some point between 11:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.; during these times of day, students waited for as long as an hour before being assigned a workstation." Nicholas Irons, Associate Director for Faculty Training & Development

We could never have anticipated the Library Café's incredible success. Just three years old in January 2002, today Café usage, exceeds 700 students each day, and 800+ days are a common occurrence. In December 2001 for the first time attendance topped 900 students per day. The Library Café is the only CUNY student lab open 24x7; it provides 88 hours of staffed service each week. We are especially proud of finals week each semester when the Café is staffed 24 hours a day, giving students the assistance they need to complete their research projects. Directing students to the Café for immediate one-on-one technology training has proven quite successful. Our message to faculty is that they need not spend valuable class time training students in technology basics.

President Kimmich brought visitors to the Café several times during the past year; afterwards, has shared his pleasure with the facility with us:

The Café staff also welcomes unannounced visitors: manager Suzie Samuel emphasizes a service ethic with her staff:

In the summer 2001 five Apple Macintosh G4 computers and five high-end Windows workstations were installed and configured to support software requested by Theater, Film, and TV/Radio. New software for this equipment came as part of an end-of-year grant that allowed the Café to upgrade some obsolete Windows packages and supply parallel Macintosh versions for these same products. The configuration of this software was performed in consultation with Matthew Hopping, the Art Department's representative in campus Lab Manager's Group, giving students maximum flexibility to move between the Art lab and the Library Café (with its much longer hours of operation).

"I think the beautiful plaza in front of the Library Café soon will become even more popular for folks who wants to enjoy fresh air while exploring the Internet. Future scenarios with a wireless network could include interactive hand-held devices like bar-code readers to assist in gathering inventories and processing volumes in the Library." Alex Rudshteyn, Associate Director for Library Systems

"From almost any point in the Library Café and on the Whitehead Plaza, students can connect to the Internet to access electronic Library resources, their Blackboard course sites, or their free BC student e-mail account. The Library Café has also configured two of its circulating laptops and one of its ADA-compatible workstations for wireless access. This project was masterminded and implemented by AIT's Alex Rudshteyn and his merry band of student workers." Nicholas Irons, Associate Director for Faculty Training & Development

This year Library Systems staff installed and configured an 802.11b wireless access point in the Library Café. The project began in January 2001 at the annual Academic IT retreat when Alex Rudshteyn first described the wireless experiment he wanted to perform in the Café in the spring. With management approval, in February and early March he and his staff investigated models, vendors, and costs, and began the ordering process. Equipment arrived in early April.
In April and early May, staff experimented with the equipment, planning to move it to the Café and begin on-site testing as a summer project. Early experiments identified several security and registration problems with using wireless under the existing Café network topology. At this point, two seeming unrelated projects intersected:

The first was the introduction of wireless into the Café without endangering the existing network. (Our network is most vulnerable after midnight when the Café is unstaffed.)

The second was the need to provide redundancy for the Café's server (identified when an earlier server crash left the Café all but unusable for days).

The solution was to configure a second server which would serve as the primary wireless server, as well as a backup for the main server. Both the server and the wireless equipment were available for installation in June.

Next, staff discovered that there was no electrical outlet for the wireless transceiver. We submitted a request to Facilities. When July came and went, and after several unheaded follow-ups, the chief librarian reiterated this request for an outlet. (At this point, staff still considered wireless a pilot project and felt little pressure to finalize before the start of the fall semester. In August, with no electrical outlet forthcoming, Systems staff finally ran an extension cord across the ceiling to power the transceiver. In a few short days we tested the system on both our laptop and ADA stations.

In late August, we learned that the students in the Honors College were all to be given laptops equipped for wireless access. In one short week, Systems staff implemented procedures both for registering wireless laptops, and for ensuring that these laptops would work in the Café and the Atrium lab. It was indeed lucky that staff had proposed the wireless experiment in January, and that management agreed to fund a pilot for which there appeared to be no immediate need: otherwise, we would never have been ready to accommodate the students enrolled in this high profile program.

In the summer 2001 the College acquired very attractive outdoor tables, umbrellas, and chairs for the Whitehead plaza, along with complementary waste bins. The tables and chairs delight students and are constantly in use. With the Café's new wireless capability, students can sit outside with a coffee or a soda and search the Internet or the Library's extensive electronic full-text collections, using their own notebook computers or one borrowed from the Café help desk.

Sixteen months after the Library Café's grand opening, although the service week had been significantly extended students were literally waiting in line to work in this exceptional facility. In the spring 2000 this led President Kimmich to make a proposal to the City Council for funds to expand the Library Café into a part of the courtyard area fronting the facility. Working with Interim Deputy Chancellor Patricia Hassett and Chief Librarian Barbra Higginbotham, architect Jack Esterson of Thanhauser & Esterson http://te-arch.com prepared a concept drawing for the president's presentation. On June 7 we learned that the project had been funded.

Fortunately, there is room for the Library Café to expand. By enclosing a part of the courtyard area that lies just outside the Café's doors the College can:

Add much-needed student seating,

Make better use of this large patio space,

Continue to bring natural light and outdoor views into the Café.

As part of this project, we plan to:

On December 3, 2001, we met to choose architects for the Café expansion. Participating were staff from CUNY central and the State Dormitory Authority, along with Barbra Higginbotham, Howard Spivak, Marla Appelbaum, Naomi Davies, and Steve Czirak from Brooklyn College. Architects Thanhauser & Esterson who designed the original Café (written up in March issue of Interiors magazine) were selected for the expansion project, which will increase student computing capacity by 50%.

In the coming year, we plan to use the interest from the Topfer endowment (about $30,000) to begin replacing some of the now-three-year-old machines in the Library Café. Most of the facility's PCs are nearing or have passed their service warrantees, so that purchasing extended service contracts, " self-insuring," and/or implementing a scheduled replacement program is critical to the Café's continuing technical stability.