Creating Academic Web Space for Academic Staff: Research and Teaching Initiatives at the University of Iowa Libraries

Abstract

The University of Iowa has several projects that are reshaping options for teaching staff and librarians as they work to build new types of academic resources. Two of these are Bailiwick and TWIST. Bailiwick is a Web space where academic passions are realised in HTML and creative home pages. Bailiwick is home to Web sites that are experimental in form, like ‘Border Crossings’, which provides comprehensive and in-depth resources, or that take on a narrow, highly specialised topic like ‘French Feminists’. In the Teaching with Innovative Style and Technology Project (TWIST), teaching staff are paired with librarian partners to create Web-based learning environments. These partners are called ‘TWISTed Pairs’. This semester, 27 academic staff members from 13 departments are paired with 11 librarians from various departments, creating 35 course-related Web sites.