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Duke University Libraries Renovations Update
- 1. Duke University Libraries Renovation Update Aaron Welborn Duke Student Government Meeting March 19, 2014
- 10. Coming Soon! The Research Commons Physical space for collaboration Technology- focused services Consultations and project support Workshops and training sessions
- 11. Where Bostock Level 1 When May - December 2014 Why Create a space for interdisciplinary, data- driven, digitally reliant, team-based research.
- 12. Collaborative work spaces Technology support Interdisciplinary project teams Multi-Year Planning to Meet Campus Needs
- 13. What Will You Find in the Research Commons?
- 17. Recap • Rubenstein Library Renovation: On Schedule • Perkins Main Entrance: Closing May 5, 2014 • Side Entrance Opening, Help Desk Moving: May 2014 • Bostock Level 1: Closing for Renovations May 2014, Reopening as Research Commons December 2014
- 18. January 2015 Research Commons Grand Opening Sept/Oct 2015 Rubenstein Library Grand Opening, Founders Day Weekend
- 19. More Info Research Commons library.duke.edu/research/commons Rubenstein Renovation library.duke.edu/renovation
- 21. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Thanks very much for the opportunity to give you a brief update about the library renovations happening here on West Campus.To start off with, I wanted to give an overview of our progress with the Rubenstein Library renovation.For those of you who don’t spend much time in the library, the Rubenstein Library is where we keep the “crown jewels” of the library. Rare books, manuscripts, special collections.
- But it also refers to this whole area outlined in red. This is the area currently covered in blue scaffolding and surrounded by a construction wall. You probably walk by it every day. It includes the Gothic Reading Room, Rare Book Room, exhibit galleries, offices, meeting rooms. All that is part of the renovation, which is scheduled to be completed by summer 2015. And so far we are on track.
- Just in case you’re wondering what all that scaffolding is for, it actually serves two purposes. First of all, they are cleaning the entire façade of the building. This part of the library was built in 1928. That’s 86 years ago. A lot of dirt and grime builds up in 86 years. So this scaffolding helps them get all around the building and wash the stone with a special solvent that will restore its original appearance.And second, all of the old leaded glass windows throughout the library are being refurbished. In order to refurbish old-fashioned leaded glass windows like you see on many Duke buildings, you have to take them apart piece by piece, redo the leading, and reinstall each pane in its original place. It’s very time-consuming work, but we hope it will help those windows last another 86 years.
- This is what you can’t see from the quad. There used to be seven floors of stacks here, with enough books and manuscripts to reach the top of Duke Chapel 155 times. We took all that out, took off the roof, and removed all seven floors of those stacks, starting from the roof and working our way down to the basement. It’s like coring a gigantic apple, but an apple made of concrete and steel.
- This is a more recent image, taken just a few weeks ago. Now that they’ve made it all the way down to the bedrock, they’re putting in a new foundation slab and new columns. And from this point onward, they’re working their way back up to the roof, building the new stack core as they go. It will be much sturdier, have better environmental controls, and it will be built to accommodate compact shelving, so we can keep more materials on-site. In fact, this marks an important turning point in the renovation—the transition from a destruction site to a construction site. We’re through with the demolition phase. From this point onwards, it’s all building and installing.
- So what’s coming up next? Another important milestone will be upon us very soon.The front entrance of the library is included in the renovation. This is our front door to the quad. It also includes the lobby area and exhibit gallery that you pass through when you walk inside. All of that is going to be reconfigured. This entrance will close after final exams in May and remain closed for a year until the renovation is complete in summer 2015. So what does that mean for you?
- It means that to get into the library, you’ll have to come in through the side entrance. Or through the exterior door of the von der Heyden Pavilion. This won’t happen until after finals are over, but we want to go ahead and start talking to you about it now. I know a lot of students were surprised when the Plaza was closed as part of the West Union renovation, and all of a sudden they couldn’t walk through there. We don’t want to surprise you. This won’t be the only time you hear about this. It’s already up on our website. We will be posting additional notices about it. And we will be posting signage outside the library to alert people about it, and directing them to get in through the side. These doors will be unlocked, so you won’t have to swipe in anymore, unless it’s after 7pm, just like we do with our front entrance now.
- To make life a little easier on you, we’re going to be putting a Library Help Desk near the side entrance of Perkins while the front entrance is closed. So if you need to check out or return a book or get help with something, you don’t have to walk all the way over to the other side. We’ll be right there near the side door when you come in.
- When our new main entrance is complete in 2015, I promise you it’s going to look beautiful. Currently, you walk in under these three arches into a covered alcove and turn to the right to enter the library. We’re bringing the doors forward to those three archways. We’re also bringing the exhibit gallery forward into the current lobby space on the right. So when you walk in, the exhibit gallery will be to your right. The Rare Book Room will be directly in front of you. We will also have new exhibits in there of rare book and manuscript materials throughout the year, and it will be OPEN most of the time, instead of closed. And to your left will be a new photography gallery. Just past that will be the entrance to the Rubenstein Library Reading Room.You’re going to love walking in to your lovely new library. It will be worth taking those few extra steps.
- So what’s more fun than a major library renovation? How about two library renovations at the same time!This summer, we’re going to start renovating the first floor of Bostock Library. This is a much smaller-scale project than the Rubenstein renovation, but we think the results will be equally dramatic.It won’t start until after finals, and the majority of the work will be done over the summer while you’re gone.We’re calling this new reconfigured space the Research Commons.
- The target completion date for this project is December 2014. But the main period of construction activity will be May – October 2014, to minimize disruptions to students and faculty. We want this space to be open and available by the time final exams roll around next fall.The improvements will allow for more technology-focused library services, more spaces for collaborative work, and an attractive new destination for students in the heart of campus. So why are we doing this?
- Plans came about through a multi-year planning process.A major conclusion that emerged from that process was this: Duke students/faculty are conducting more work in the context of interdisciplinary collaborations and digital production. The kinds of projects we see coming out of the new Bass Connections initiative are a good example of this.Another thing we realized was that LINK is popular. It has revealed a demand for more group space, more reservable space, and more technology support.In August of 2012, the Libraries hosted a visioning workshop for library spaces, and we invited a number of Duke faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and administrators across disciplines to participate. In that workshop, we got a lot of great input about the needs of Duke researchers that contributed to the vision for this space.
- So what will be there?For starters, Project Rooms (like the group studies in the Link, but for research).We’ll also have grab-able and reservable rooms where you and your fellow students can work on a project.Easy access to tools and software, like scanners and printers, data sets, data visualization tools, and library research consultants.We’ll also use this space to organize regular workshops on new technological tools and research methods that you may be using (or may want to try out).There will also be workshop and presentation spaces where you can practice a presentation you’re working on, like the one I’m giving you now, or give a real live presentation on your research to a public audience.
- This will also be the new home of our Data & GIS Lab, which is moving from its present location on the 2nd floor of Perkins Library.Here you can:- Meet with our experts and digital consultants in data and GIS services, - Locate, organize, and visualize data- And participate in training sessions on using and manipulating data.
- Who can use it? YOU!All Duke library users (faculty, students, staff) are welcome. We want this to be an environment that encourages collaboration, risk-taking, and discovery.During high-use times, preference and priority for spaces (like project rooms) and resources (like workstations) given to researchers whose work requires access to resources unique to the Research Commons. But it will be open to all.
- While we’re renovating the space, collections on the first floor of Bostock will be moving to other library locations. Most of those collections consist of current periodicals and microfilm. A complete list of what’s moving where is on our website.And we will free up additional study space elsewhere in Perkins and Bostock to accommodate students while we finish the work.
- And finally, we all like to celebrate good times. We’re working on plans to mark the completion of the Research Commons with a grand opening event in January 2015, followed by a grand opening celebration of the Rubenstein Library during Founder’s Day Weekend in fall 2015. There will be tours, receptions, giveaways, and events that showcase the new spaces and all they have to offer the Duke community.
- If you would like more info on either of these two projects, here’s where you can find it on our website.
- For any Chronicle reporters in the audience, if you ever need a good photo of the library renovations, we post new ones all the time on our Flickr site. All of the photos we post on Flickr are under a Creative Commons license, and you can grab them in high-resolution right here anytime. Help yourself.
- And with that, let’s see if you have any questions. I brought along some of my library colleagues who have been heavily involved in the Research Commons planning in case they can help field any detailed questions you may have related to that.(Introduce Jean, Joel)