The Library Building Committee released its proposals for the renovation of Baker Library and the building of Berry Library which include a new student coffeehouse, more varied study space and administrative computing.
The committee has worked for the past four months to transform the report of the Task Force on the Library of the 21st Century into a specified plan, said Director of Library Administrative Services and head of the Library Building Committee John Crane. This effort resulted in the Berry/Baker Planning Update, .
"We hope to forward our recommendation to the Provost in early to mid-summer," he added. "We have been meeting weekly since early January."
The update includes plans for a student coffeehouse.
Both the 1996 Class Council and the 1999 Class Council have endorsed the Berry Library coffeehouse, Crane said.
"Many students have expressed interest in the coffee shop idea," Crane said. "We are looking forward to designing that."
"More and different kinds of reading and study spaces will be incorporated into the library, including small group study room, additional individual student study carrels and a 24-hour cafe/study room -- an attractive gathering place offering light refreshment," according to the update.
Crane said the coffeehouse is likely to be incorporated into the new library.
"We have not quite figured out what this [24-hour service] means yet," Crane said. "This will require some staffing, I expect. Most coffeehouses and food services do. There will be a separate entrance and exit [from the library] for security reasons."
A large portion of the academic computing services from the Kiewit Computation Center will probably be incorporated into the new library, he said.
"Some of the functions in the Kiewit building that have to do with academic computing would be moved to Berry Library but we have not decided which will and which will not," Crane said
But Kiewit will still exist for purposes other than academic computing, Crane said.
The classrooms of Baker will be completely renovated and the new classroom of Berry will have "teaching facilities incorporating state-of-the-art digital technology" in order "to provide instruction to students and other users," according to the update.
"The classrooms will be significantly augmented with electronic facilities," Crane said. "There will be smart classrooms."
The Jones Microtext Center will also undergo renovations, according to the update. The Microtext center will include new multimedia facilities for accessing microforms, video and audio tapes, CD-ROMs and laser disks.
"The Jones Microtext Center exists but the functions there will be significantly enlarged to support many more functions," Crane said of the plans. "We are going to move in a significant way in that area."
An open Reserve Corridor will complement the existing Corridor in Baker Library, Crane said. The Berry Reserve corridor would feature open reserves and the Baker Reserve Corridor would remain closed. Professors could choose the reserve corridor in which they wanted to place their books.
"It would be a security controlled room," Crane said of the Berry Reserve Corridor. "A dozen years ago, the shelves across the room from the current reserve desk had open reserves but materials kept disappearing. We want to offer the same services again."
Crane said the committee did not accept all the suggestions it was given.
"Proposals that were evaluated but which, in the end, could not be fit into the library program included an emeritus faculty center, a film library with the requisite projection facilities, and a language resource center," according to the update.
