2015TR

TUSCARORA REVIEW 2016

2016 TUSCARORA REVIEW

company, and the facilities people here at FCC. I.T. worked very, very hard,

because it was a 40% increase in the number of computers. We’re using the thin

clients out there; they’re not desktops. It’s basically like a big monitor that goes

into a central server area; they did a lot of work on that. So the technology is just

wonderful, and everybody worked very hard and you can see the outcome.

Tuscarora Review:

Do you have any expectations for how long these

new innovations will last until you need to update them again? Do you think this

will last another twenty years like the old library did?

Mick:

In terms of the collections, we are updating them constantly. There

were two major upgrades of the computers over that period of twenty-two

years from 1994 to 2016. So the technology was up-to-date. The main thing that

wasn’t was the facility itself, the desks, and the chairs. But you don’t do that very

often. That’s a big deal. But the college was very conscientious in updating the

technology so you didn’t have a twenty-year-old computer; you maybe had a

five-year-old computer, and that’s fine. They would update the software regularly,

and the machines were replaced as needed. The facility had some minor changes

over the years but not too many. We were very pleased when the Board [of

Trustees] said, ‘Go ahead.’ Then the proposals came back and we thought, ‘Let’s

just make this design in the best possible way.’ You can see the vision was carried

out in terms of the construction. Everybody who’s been involved with the project

from the very beginning thinks, ‘wow this is great,’ and the nicest thing is that it

works well for the students. If you had a pretty place that didn’t work well, you

would say, ‘Well what’s wrong here? It’s not complete!’ But we agreed from the

beginning not to just have a beautiful facility, but to have interconnected services

that work for the students. From my point of view, that’s the bigger deal. Have

you spent much time up here? What do you think?

Tuscarora Review:

Yes, the new layout is fantastic.

Mick:

There’s several different types of furniture, and every piece of furniture

is used. The back is more of a quiet area. When the student survey was done in

the summer of 2014, 300 students replied to the survey—that’s a good turnout—

and the single most important question was ‘what do you want in a library and

a study space?’ Most students said, ‘We want a place for quiet study.’ So we did

it. And yet increasingly, students are collaborating, working together on projects.

That was very important, and the study rooms are for that. The Makerspace and

this area out here, you can see students working together, sitting in the booths.

Students love the booths! So whether you’re working on your own on the

Blackboard website, or you’re working together, the space is available for that.

Tuscarora Review:

Is there anything else you would like to say?

Mick:

I’ve had a long career here, and FCC as a whole I think is stronger now

than it’s ever been in terms of the faculty and the services to students. I think

it’s this notion that we have to keep getting better, we have to keep improving;

that’s been a constant here, from 1976 to the present. I think FCC will continue

to have the best for the students whether it’s a building or the faculty, or having

a wonderful financial aid program. The emphasis from the very beginning has

been on the students. You’ll get more individual help here than almost anywhere

Mick & Learning Assistant Carolyn Sangi, ready to provide assistance to FCC

faculty, staff & students.

else. Now you walk in and talk to counselors, faculty members, librarians, tutors,

whatever. That is a value of FCC that has been here from way before my time,

and it continues to this day. That’s a constant, and yet we are constantly learning

new things and not just here in the library. Faculty are constantly improving their

teaching. The advisors and counselors are constantly thinking, ‘How can we

do better? How can we be better trained? How can our system work better?’

That’s in every place here at FCC whether it’s directly front-line work with

students like we do, or the business offices that are thinking ‘how can we have

the systems work better,’ or the IT people thinking ‘how can we have a better

system,’ constantly working with Blackboard. Whether it’s someone working

with the students or not, everybody has the same mission, and I’ve been around

long enough to see that. It’s a good institution. I’ll be at the grocery store and

somebody will come up and say, ‘Hey, you’re the library guy!’ They don’t usually

know my name, but I do a lot of work with students too, and I always ask them,

‘How did FCC work for you?’ They invariably say, ‘It worked for me,’ whether they

had one course, or whether they transferred, or whether they were in a career

program. FCC has done a lot of good work in the county for a lot of people.

We’re proud of that and being a part of that.

The

Tuscarora Review

would like to thank Mick for his time and for his

commitment to the students at Frederick Community College. If you find yourself

in the Learning Commons, be sure to say hello to Mr. O’Leary and any of

the library, Writing Center, or Tutoring Center staff, and ask for any assistance

if needed.