News Gcs Ruby To Co Author Book Chapter - Garrett College
Apply Now
Plan a Visit
Request Info
Make a Gift

Campus News

January 14th, 2025

GC's Ruby to co-author book chapter

Chapter explores success of College's learning commons model

ruby

Ashley Ruby, Garrett College's learning commons director, has been selected to co-author a book chapter focusing on how academic libraries support the first-year student experience.

Garrett College's learning commons director has been selected to co-author a book chapter focusing on how academic libraries support the first-year student experience.

Ashley Ruby and her co-authors – George Mason University's Jenny Meslener and Denise Klasen-López – will be writing their chapter for inclusion in Academic Libraries and the First-Year Experience. The book chapter is entitled Beyond Books: A Holistic Approach to Cultivating Library Engagement in the First-Year Experience.

The book, which will be published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, is expected to be released in fall 2026.

Ruby said the chapter will focus on how she and Meslener implemented the learning commons model at Garrett College prior to Meslener's departure in 2023 to accept a position at George Mason University. It will also highlight the improvement in student success indicators that resulted from implementing the model.

"The chapter will be presented like a case study," said Ruby. "We will include an introduction and background, along with a literature review, and then talk specifically about the customized learning commons model at Garrett College."

Ruby said the learning commons model implemented at GC focuses on integrated "library services, tutoring, proactive advising, career and transfer support, highly interactive library spaces, and collaboration across campus departments."

"Our goal was to really make it a welcoming, inviting space for students, faculty and community, and to utilize the library to contribute to student success at Garrett College," added Ruby.

Ruby said the success that resulted from implementing the learning commons model drew regional and even national interest.

"Other schools began visiting Garrett College to see some of the changes we made," said Ruby. "We also started sharing our experience by presenting at conferences. We were looking for a way to mark the completion of the learning commons transition, and this opportunity seemed to be a great way to do that."

One of the first changes implemented when GC began transitioning to a learning commons model was moving tutoring from small, secluded study rooms to the center of the building. Meanwhile, tutoring expanded to include subjects beyond math and English, offering support for social sciences, humanities, sciences, computers, and natural resources.

A peer tutoring program was also developed utilizing Federal Work-Study support to complement professional tutoring provided by faculty, adjunct faculty, community members, and volunteers.

Between 2016-2019, these changes resulted in:

  • Weekly tutoring hours offered increased 70%;
  • The percentage of enrolled students accessing tutoring increased 24%; and
  • The total time spent in tutoring by students that accessed tutoring increased 92%.

Ruby said the learning commons revitalized the library's online resources to best align with the college's academic programs, ensured databases were accessible off-campus through EZproxy, and added new resources requested by faculty and staff. Between 2016-2019, these changes resulted in:

  • Student online database usage increased 24%; and
  • Reference assistance provided by professional library staff increased 79%.

Between 2016 and 2024, comparing fall-to-fall enrolled students, the college experienced:

  • 31% decrease in midterm deficiency rates; and
  • 64% decrease in end-of-term academic difficulty rates.

Ruby said she and Meslener will be concentrating on capturing their experiences while Klasen-López is focusing on the literature review.

"Denise's specialization is research," explained Ruby. "She's pulling together a lot of the evidence to support the work that we've done."

Ruby holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Frostburg State University. She is currently completing her doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern Mississippi.