The University of Delaware Library will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Student Multimedia Design Center (SMDC) Feb. 21-24.

The SMDC was designed to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff with the increasing number of classes that involve the creation of multimedia projects, and has been nationally recognized for meeting those needs with computer hardware, software, studios, equipment for loan, instruction and staff expertise.

Anniversary activities available throughout the week will include a “petting zoo” of multimedia equipment available to borrow, a fun photo booth, refreshments, giveaways and several displays featuring: multimedia projects that have stemmed from successful collaborations with students, faculty and staff; video equipment artifacts from 2007; and a photo mosaic of the staff who have worked in the SMDC in the past decade providing important expertise.

There will also be an exhibition in front of the Film and Video Collection featuring films from 2007.

Each day the library will celebrate a specific audience that uses the SMDC.

• Tuesday, Feb. 21, the library will celebrate the “Student” in SMDC. For instance, there will be a workshop presented by a Google trainer on finding multimedia resources. The workshop, held in collaboration with the Journalism Program, is open to all and will be held in the Class of 1941 Lecture Room at 7 p.m.

• Wednesday, Feb. 22, the library will celebrate collaborations with faculty partners, including the faculty who have participated in the multimedia literacy program. This day’s activities include a workshop on using PolicyMap (registration required) at 9:05 a.m.

• Thursday, Feb. 23, the library will celebrate campus partners, including staff from UD Information Technologies, the Multimedia Writing Center and Faculty Commons partners.

• Friday, Feb. 24, the library will celebrate the library staff partnerships, because the success of an enterprise of this type requires skills and collaboration from a range of library experts.

SMDC opened in 2007

The Student Multimedia Design Center opened with fanfare on Feb. 27, 2007, modeling state-of-the-art equipment and support for undergraduate multimedia literacy through training and creative spaces.

Paul Hyde, IT-User Services information resource consultant, is credited with envisioning an interdisciplinary center to meet the multimedia services needs of faculty and students. Hyde was encouraged and supported by Conrado (Bobby) M. Gempesaw, then dean of the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, who met with IT staff and encouraged them to meet with senior administrators, including then president David P. Roselle.

Hyde persevered to see the SMDC through to completion as a collaborative effort between campus IT and the library. An additional collaboration with the Oral Communications Fellows program brought tutors into the space where students could see them.

As Dan Rich, provost at the time, stated at the opening, “The new Student Multimedia Design Center will help meet the needs of students in every discipline to communicate effectively through multimedia.”

Meeting campus needs

Throughout its first decade, the SMDC has helped meet the needs of students whose classes involve the creation of multimedia presentations for their courses. A more formalized multimedia literacy program was established in 2012 and demand from faculty in all disciplines for participation in this program has been steady. SMDC staff provided 113 sessions in fall 2015/spring 2016 to 46 instructors across 17 different departments, including such subject areas as entrepreneurship, sports management, plant and soil sciences, fashion, agriculture and anthropology.

Faculty may reserve a multimedia classroom equipped with capable Windows or Macintosh computers running a range of multimedia software. When not reserved for larger group work, classrooms are open for use by members of the University community on a first-come, first-served basis.

To showcase the creativity of student multimedia projects, the SMDC has hosted multiple Student Multimedia Showcase events since 2007 and has been at the center of the UD Library’s observance of annual International Games Day since 2013.

Management of the SMDC’s information technologies transferred to library IT staff in 2010. The SMDC is now part of the Multimedia Collections and Services Department.

In 2015, additional collaboration between the library and the College of Arts and Sciences brought a Multimedia Writing Center into the Morris Library in a space adjacent to the Student Multimedia Design Center.

While the Student Multimedia Design Center is believed to be the largest multimedia production space in an academic library in the nation, it also provides traditional library services such as GIS, microforms, maps and copy services. Students enjoy the non-quiet collaborative space in the SMDC; its bright colors and blue lights; its Mac computers, color printer and poster printers. It’s also a place to see friends and has a desk staffed with friendly help until midnight most nights.

The most popular service is the loan of a wide range of high quality still and video cameras, hard drives, lighting and audio kits and related equipment to UD students, faculty and staff with valid UD ONEcards.

The SMDC has six studios, four of which include high-end computer hardware, video cameras and large displays. While created for digital video editing, these studios also allow users to record themselves practicing a presentation and then play it back for review. Users can record themselves to a USB drive by using just one button in the One Button Studio. A dedicated Sound Studio makes it easy for users to layer tracks of music and vocals, or even to hook up with larger groups of voices by using linked studios. A Digital Graphics Studio, includes a Wacom Cintiq 24HD Graphics Tablet that student artists may use to create graphic art. Any of the studios may be reserved for two-hour blocks up to one week in advance.

The SMDC has always relied heavily on funding from the state of Delaware to purchase the equipment and software available to users, and to help support staff salaries.

All users coming to the Morris Library need to have photo identification. Those with UD ONEcards can hold this ID to the card reader at the turnstiles for easy access to the Library. If you do not have a UD ONEcard, a state-issued ID like a driver's license or a government-issued, or school-issued photo ID will be needed to enter the Morris Library.