 |
 |
||
 |
|||
|
Default | NEWS
4/8/2004 12:13:00 AM Rice Library prepares for the future with new plans, programs BY CHARLES HENRY
and SARA LOWMAN The most recent
planning cycle for the physical expansion of Fondren Library
began in 1992 and accelerated in mid-decade. Many features
of the university remain familiar after 12 years: the publication
of printed books and journals as a salient medium of scholarly
exchange; the fundamental importance of a residential university
as a forum for self discovery and intellectual growth; and
the role of a library as central to one’s educational
experience.
At the same time,
much has changed. The previous library planning effort began
before the invention of the World Wide Web. In the last
seven years, literally hundreds of millions of Web pages
have been created, thousands of online journals have appeared
and the National Science Foundation has invested millions
in digital library projects across the sciences and humanities.
Some disciplines are now completely dependent on electronic
resources for research and teaching. Internet access is
nearly ubiquitous. Tens of thousands of independent academic
projects are increasingly linked through national registries
and digital catalogs. Emerging areas of research augur extraordinary
advances in our understanding of the world: bioinformatics,
nanotechnology and molecular computing are all prominent
examples of Rice’s academic strength. These compelling
scientific advances also portend new ways of organizing
managing and delivering information — basic elements
of the traditional library. How will Rice
proceed? Building renovation and a number of interrelated
services and programs lie ahead. The new off-site Library
Service Center, which opened in January, will provide space
for the ongoing transfer of less-used library materials,
so that Fondren will always have adequate space to evolve.
Many of the goals for Fondren in the master planning study
remain salient: • greater
efficiency of service points and programs • more collaborative
spaces, with emphasis on the social nature of learning • more widely
deployed technology • better
seating and reading areas • improved
sightlines between service points. During the past
several years, we have come to understand more deeply that
the virtual spaces at Rice provide means by which the academic
community can meet, exchange ideas, collaborate on projects,
read and compose assignments, conduct research and build
digital repositories that reflect new understanding. Like
the campus of bricks and mortar it complements and extends,
the digital environment requires a unifying architecture
and must be secure, easy to navigate and dedicated to intellectual
development of the highest order. Rice must also plan for
and manage its digital environment with the same meticulous
care and sensitivity accorded its renowned physical plant
of colleges, classrooms and green quadrangles. “No
upward limit” should apply equally to our virtual dimension,
as it did nearly 100 years ago to the new institute when
it broke ground. The next library
at Rice University will evolve in the coming decade, bridging
the complex academic needs of the present with a future
we are just beginning to understand. Today new areas of
research, breathtaking changes in technology and an equally
astonishing growth in scholarly resources can rightfully
claim the Gutenberg revolution as precedent. We are on the
cusp of a transformational epoch, with an opportunity to
create a 21st-century library that is vibrant, flexible
and attuned to a swiftly changing world. Our goal remains
identical to the earlier library project: to construct a
pre-eminent academic support environment that sustains the
most advanced research and intellectual productivity of
any institution of higher learning. The most recent
planning study for the enhancement of library and information
resources at Rice produced a variety of desired elements
that were perceived as enriching the intellectual environment
at the university. These included consolidating traditional
library services; implementing innovative uses of technology
for information delivery and knowledge management; balancing
on-site collections with remote storage of less-used books
and journals; creating a more easily navigated building;
and constructing flexible study spaces that encouraged collaboration
and multivalent use. These defining
concepts were to be incorporated in a new building, following
the razing of Fondren. Though the plan to raze the existing
Fondren Library has been revised, the guiding concepts that
emerged in the planning process have nonetheless been preserved
and will be realized within the existing library and its
off-site facility, the Library Service Center. Many important
enhancements are under way or planned for the next four
years. The library is
now ready to begin the concept and costing study for this
project. The project team includes architects from Shepley
Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, Bailey Architects and Linbeck
Construction Inc., as well as staff from Fondren Library,
Rice Project Management and Planning and Rice Facilities
and Engineering. Should the Rice Board of Trustees approve
this concept and costing proposal, further planning and
construction will follow in 2004 and 2005. Library renovations
will be phased and will initially focus on the following
areas of the first, second and sixth floors: • The concept
of a “main street” through the center of the first
floor of Fondren was an element in all recent library planning
studies. Creating a new entrance on the west side of Fondren
with an open corridor connecting to the present eastern
doors will help achieve the goals of facilitating improved
sight lines to key services; consolidation of some services,
with staff and cost efficiencies; aesthetically connecting
the first floor with the mezzanine to also improve patron
orientation and direction finding; and accommodation of
the high volume of student traffic along the west-side axis
that connects the colleges with the science and engineering
buildings. • Creating
an open space with views of campus on the sixth floor is
planned. This space would then be furnished as a reading
room, with comfortable chairs and data ports. Inclusion
of a space dedicated to the Graduate Student Association
would afford a place for graduate students to meet, recruit
future graduate students and share information pertinent
to their interests. • The creation
of a coffee shop/cybercafe is planned for the first floor.
This area will act as a social and intellectual place within
the library to read, study, use technology, talk with friends
and colleagues or take a break. Although history has shown
many examples of how coffee, intellectual thought and socializing
go hand-in-hand, coffee service in libraries is a relatively
new trend, contradicting the library’s traditional
image. • Improvements
to the Woodson Research Center include relocating the doorway
and replacing several small rooms to reveal activity in
the research center and the collections housed within. A
glass-paneled door will be added, with exhibit cases placed
near the entrance and an improved reception/entry point
designed to welcome scholars and students to the facility.
Other enhancements to the center are planned, including
new bookshelves, equipment, furniture and the modernization
of fire safety methods. • Relocating
circulation/reserves to the newly created western building
entrance will enhance library service points. The space
occupied by the circulation/reserves staff needs to be updated
and relocated to accommodate new functions, such as electronic
reserves processing and the housing of additional format
materials (DVD, CD-ROM), as well as address other changes
in staff duties. Staffing efficiencies will also be realized
with consolidation of the information desk with circulation/reserves
for 24-hour access. The
space will be more efficiently designed in a new location,
and sight lines to other service points improved. • Enhanced
study rooms are planned. Students have requested flexibly
designed collaborative spaces in the library with a variety
of technology to accommodate the social nature of learning,
and the library sees the need to create rooms for individual
or group study. • An Asian
Studies Alcove is tentatively planned for the first floor
in the Reference Room. The
Asian Studies Program has been enhanced with a number of
new faculty, including areas of specialization such as Japanese
history and Indian religious studies, which has resulted
in increased interest from students. Faculty members have
expressed the need for a space where special language materials
and computers could be co-located for the study of Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, Tibetan and other Asian languages. The library project
team will also evaluate other possible renovations as part
of the study, including furniture upgrades, remodeling of
staff areas, facilities issues and other library service
point modifications. Projects relating
to the enhancement of the digital library at Rice are also
planned as part of this study, including: Using the former
Business Information Center space in Herring Hall for Digital
Library Services. This open space is ideal, with minimal
refurbishment, as a digital library service center. Computer
equipment from less-used Owlnet labs could be more productively
placed in this area, and the Electronic Resources Center
(ERC), currently housed in the basement of Fondren, could
more visibly serve the Rice campus as a multimedia production
and teaching center. The Educational Technology Research
and Assessment Center, a component of the ERC that provides
expertise on the evaluation of classroom technology at Rice
and across the nation, is another facet that would improve
with a more accessible location. Network upgrades
and the expansion of wireless coverage on campus are needed.
A well-managed and maintained network is critical for the
delivery of information, collaboration and secure data storage
and retrieval in the coming years. This would include wider
deployment of Rice’s wireless network. —Charles Henry is vice provost and university librarian. Sara Lowman is director of Fondren Library and associate university librarian. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
