Link to Session Platform

Chairs(s):

David Cowen, University of South carolina

; Angela Lee, Esri

Description:

Over the past three decades there have been dramatic changes in the way GIS is supported in higher education. In particular, the evolution of technology and the increased demand across the campus has provided an opportunity for librarians to work directly with new faculty and student users. It can be argued that the expansion of GIS by academic libraries has followed the classic model for the diffusion of innovation. In fact, it is hard to find an institution of higher education where the library does not have link to GIS support. A major factor in the evolution of library-based GIS support has been the emergence of campus wide site licenses for software and data. At many institutions the library is the focal point for collaboration and training. In some cases, librarians work directly with faculty to customize training. In others they are co-teaching and even teaching traditional academic courses. While growth of spatial analysis in a multidisciplinary environment must be viewed as positive outcome, the fact that users are not coming to geography departments for training and support can be viewed as a threat. This session is designed to identify the changing nature of academic GIS support and how they are impacting traditional geography departments.

Non-Presenting Participants Agenda