The Adele Coryell Hall Learning Commons is transforming teaching and learning

The Adele Coryell Hall Learning Commons recently celebrated its two-year anniversary. The inviting space with warm light, exceptional research and technology assistance, and its myriad options for study has enlivened the center of campus and transformed how teaching and learning take place.

Over the past two years, the Adele Hall Learning Commons worked with various campus partners to host more than 50 rich and meaningful programs and events, ranging from classical music over the lunch hour to workshops hosted by library staff on research tools and resources.

Last spring, Professor Patrick T. Randolph, Senior Lecturer in the PIESL Department hosted the first international poetry reading and performance night, where he and his students read poems. Randolph says of the space, "I love the positive energy that echoes in spirit of that floor. The natural light coupled with the light sparked by the students, scholars, faculty, staff, and café workers create an energetic peacefulness that inspires the soul to reflect and create."

The Adele Hall Learning Commons is also home to the Big Red Ruckus, an annual event packed with fun and informative activities to welcome new and returning students to campus. Regina Flowers, commons operations manager and the chief organizer of this event says, "The Big Red Ruckus is full of games and prizes, but it has a bigger purpose-to introduce students to the resources available in the library and around campus that support and enrich their academic careers."

The Adele Hall Learning Commons was voted by hundreds of students as the "favorite place to study" in 2016 and 2017 in the Daily Nebraskan's Big Red Choice Awards. Business student Liz Uebele enjoys the open areas, "because I get to interact and work beside students of all majors and backgrounds. The learning commons helps me feel connected to the university as a whole."



University Libraries Dean Nancy Busch visits the Adele Hall Learning Commons nearly every day. She says she sees students and faculty engaged in teaching and learning across the space in different ways. "It's incredible to witness creativity and collaboration. That's why I always tell people to contact us for a tour so they can experience what's happening here firsthand."

The numbers alone indicate the success of the space: the cumulative total visitors for 2016 and 2017 is nearly 1.7 million.  But it's not just the University of Nebraska-Lincoln community that that recognizes the success of the space; institutions from across the country look to it as a benchmark for their own library renovation plans. Flowers reports that she led nearly 20 tours, the majority to other institutions embarking on similar renovation projects, including Nebraska Community College, Wisconsin School of Business, and Kansas State University.


 The Adele Hall Learning Commons has also caught the attention of organizations and experts who conduct research on how college students learn in the digital age. "It's difficult to find any hour of the day when students aren't flocking to the UNL Learning Commons," Dr. Alison Head, director of Project Information Literacy (PIL) said, "the success of this project lies in an unwavering design commitment to building inviting space for collaboration as well as quiet space for reflection." Head is also a Research Fellow at Harvard University's metaLAB, and was the University Libraries' 2017 Visiting Scholar.

The doors opened to the university community on January 11, 2016. To schedule a tour of the Adele Coryell Hall Learning Commons, contact Regina Flowers at rflowers3@unl.edu. See more stats about the space here.