Published by the Inends of the Library
Academic Affairs Library
The University of North Carolina at C 'hapel Hill
Volume 8, number 1
Spring 1999
A New House
as» fall the General Assembly of North Carolina, in its longest
running session ever, appropriated $9..'i million for the
renovation of the Robert H. House Undergraduate Libi ary. The
thirty-year-old facility will be completely gutted down to the
concrete flouts and rebuilt to accommodate service to Carolina's
undergraduates well into the next century,
On November IS, 1998. a group of approximately 101) Library
administrators and statt. University and government officials,
students, and other I .ibrary supporters gathered under the canopy
of House Undergraduate Library to celebrate this news for which
they had been working and hoping for at least two years. When
the I louse renovation project was first
proposed for funding to the legislature
for the
1997/98
fiscal year, the budget
was 118 million. The project was not
funded that year, but, as foe Hewitt,
associate provost for University libraries,
explained, "that worked to our
advantage because it gave us the
opportunity to revise the budget to reflect
the real cost."
When House opened its doors in 1 %8
as a state-of-the-art library for the print
age, its collection, services, and spaces
were designed for the way
undergrad i rate students used the librar
у
in that era. That was during a period of rapid campus growth, so
individual study space was one of the library's most highly touted
tea hi res.
Tlucc decades and an information explosion later, librarians help
students navigate the vast new universe of resources — the Internet
and specialized databases, as well as books, journals, and other print
materials. Current teaching and learning styles differ from those
of the late sixties as well. And the Carolina Computing Initiative
requires that every student entering in the year 20110 has a laptop
computer. As a result, interactive, hands-on computer classrooms;
multimedia collaborator^» (where librarians, faculty, and students
will collaborate to develop multimedia learning packages for
specific classes);
seminar, group
study, and media
viewing rooms;
and new wiling
and network
connections are top priorities lor the renovated library.
"A New I louse: Your Gateway to Information," the renovation
slogan, captures the heart of Utopian to create a state and national
model foi delivering information services to twenty-first-centurv
students — a leaching library which will provide comprehensive
access to and training in the hill range
of information tools. In tire up-to-date
facility, librarians will have the space,
equipment, and technology they need to
provide to undergraduates instruction,
training, and guidance tlie core of the
Undergraduate Library. And students
will have what they need to meet the
challenges of the classroom.
'I he entry level of the "New House"
will feature the periodicals room, a
browsing area, an open reserves reading
room, the circulation desk, a large
reference area and hands-on reference
classroom, two col laboratories, a copy
center, and staff offices.
The lower level will change dramatically as well. Students will
enjoy "one-stop stropping" as the User Services (contiiuuJ cn
ряцс
2i
S6 Hayes Plantation Library
8 Library News Briefs
8 Ki trail Celebration
10 Goltschalk Collection
"A New 1 louse: Your Gateway l
о
Information," the renovation slogan,
captures the heart of the plan to create
a state and national model for
delivering information services to
twerity-fir.sl -cen I ury students.. .
A New House
Your Gateway
S5 to Information
л
