ChatAbout The Workshop
The Workshop on the lower level of Cabell Library opened in the academic year 2015-16 and is managed by VCU Libraries’ Creative Technologies and Scholarship Department.
Libraries have traditionally been places where the two vital roles of preservation of and access to information and knowledge converge. Libraries have always played an additional role in information and knowledge creation as well. With technological advances, that role is emerging as a greater priority as scholars, students and others discover new tools that make it easier for all users to explore and express ideas in non-traditional ways, such as through video or by creating 3D models.
By providing access to resources for users who are operating in those new forms of information and knowledge exploration and creation, the modern research library is simply carrying on a long-standing tradition of advancing scholarship with new tools and the expertise to teach people how to use those tools.
Envisioned as an active, open creative community, The Workshop welcomes beginners and experts alike. Want to get involved? Attend a Workshops @ The Workshop session, set up a meeting to talk about your interests, or consider teaching a workshop that shares your expertise.
What’s inside?
The Workshop offers a comprehensive suite of resources and spaces designed as an ecosystem for creating and learning. Equipment and spaces are free and open to all members of the VCU community. The Workshop circulates a collection of audiovisual equipment for loan and also offers in-house tools and spaces including a makerspace for hands-on creativity, audio/video studios and an XR/advanced multimedia lab, computer stations with a variety of software, and other equipment in support of scholarship, research, presentation and invention.
Guidelines
VCU students, faculty, staff, alumni with library cards and library card-holding members of Friends of VCU Libraries are welcome in The Workshop. Current VCU faculty or students are priority users. Alumni and Friends of VCU Libraries library cardholders may use computer workstations when they are not in demand for academic use. They may also reserve studios and enjoy use of in-house machines including the 3D printers and laser cutters. Only current students and faculty may checkout seven-day loaned equipment.
Visitors from other universities, libraries and groups in the metro Richmond community who would like a tour or more information about The Workshop should make an appointment.
Other notes about using the space and equipment:
- Some equipment and spaces require that users be authorized by first attending an orientation.
- Faculty and students have priority use of the space to work on academic projects.
- All users must follow the Creative Technologies and Scholarship department usage guidelines.
- Fines are charged on late equipment returns.