Langsdale to become The Land of AS

Over the past few years, Langsdale has seen more than its fair share of changes. One of the biggest changes is just around the corner when we return to a renovated building at 1420 Maryland Ave. shortly after the Spring semester ends. With a new building comes new workflows and ways of organizing which has inspired many of the departments within Langsdale to rethink how we represent ourselves to the UB community.

The library building renovation is giving us plenty of new perspectives.

For example, Langsdale’s newest department, the Achievement and Learning Center needs to change its name because it is no longer an independent center, but part of the library. ALC Director John Chapin initially thought that Academic Support Services had a nice ring to it, but quickly realized it was acronymically challenged.  This led him to spend much effort considering other options. When he brought up the idea of going with Academic Success (AS), Head of Access Services Sean Hogan* quickly pointed out that AS was the best acronym in the history of departments within academia. Everyone agreed that that this was indeed the case, and we are now transitioning to an almost entirely new slate of department names that will better reflect the gestalt of our soon to be newly renovated building.

As mentioned, the Achievement and Learning Center will be known as Academic Success (AS)
Access Services, will continue as Access Service (AS)
Administration, will become Administrative Services (AS)
Reference will change to Answering Services (AS)
Acquisitions & Discovery Services will transform into Acquisition Services (AS)
Special Collections will henceforth be known as Archival Services (AS) and
Integrated Digital Systems will transition to Automated Programing Resources Inspiring Literature For Online Ontological Learning Systems (AS)

In announcing the new names, Dean Lucy Holman emphasized how these changes, far from being cosmetic, will make a real difference for the UB Community.  “So many times students and faculty have come into Langsdale not knowing which department they needed to see.  Heck, I have a hard time keeping them straight myself” Holman said. “Now, everyone will know they can ask to speak with someone in AS, and be certain they asked for the correct department.”

This renaming project has gone so well, that the next step will be to rename Langsdale itself. Athenueum Station (AS) is the early favorite.

*A special thanks to Sean Hogan for providing the inspiration for this blog post.