**Purpose:** This project seeks to build a **common framework of best practices for institutions to follow** as they seek to formalize their deployment of and support for immersive visualization environments. By involving those who have already established themselves in the community of practice, we ensured that the framework reflects the most useful practices and that it benefited from their experiences.
VCU Libraries developed a suite of three tools that together comprise the common framework:
*Best practices for local needs assessments*
Through a combination of a workshop with a cohort of select peers, surveys of related communities of practice, and iterative refinements based on ongoing conversations with the peer cohort, we examined the factors involved in performing an effective needs assessment at one’s own local institution. The outcome consisted of a peer-vetted set of approaches that will help any institution best understand its local visualization needs.
*Best practices for external site visits*
Through a similar combination of the workshop, surveys, and cohort discussions, we built a collection of effective approaches for talking to other institutions about their spaces and services, weighing the new information against the home institution’s needs. The outcome of this step was a peer-vetted set of approaches that will help institutions better benefit from the examples of existing environments.
(The two tools above are included in the Framework document below.)
Literature collection
The NCSU proposal originally noted that “the literature on the scholarly relevance of visualization environments in libraries and the projects in which they engage is still sparse.” We developed a one-stop shop of all identified, relevant literature, including instructional practices in academic and other fields, product reviews, research findings, etc, to give those who are exploring the field more information to help them understand the environment.
(This will be posted shortly.)
