A student works on the second floor of Library West. The study center at Newell Hall, University of Florida would be equipped with a wireless network so students can access library resources on their computers.
When students walk by Newell Hall, they see a historic building. But University of Florida faculty and library administrators hope that building with such a rich past will be cutting edge: UF’s first library without books.
The library project was originally introduced by UF President Bernie Machen in August 2009, said Judith Russell, dean of the University of Florida libraries. Though the university planned to provide stimulus money for the project that summer, funds were assigned to greater priorities, she said.
There is no expectation that the project will be included in the university budget this year, Russell said.
The study center, which would consist of ample seating and some computers but zero books, is now on the “wish list” for the university’s future, she said.
Russell hopes UF will find a donor who can provide the initial $15 million investment to renovate the space and an endowment to keep the technology up to date.
“Someone who’s very interested in facilitating the student experience could find this an interesting project,” she said.
The experience would be one where students bring in their laptops or work on available computers to access the library’s extensive electronic collection of books, research articles, course reserves and academic journals. Millions of materials are available through the George A. Smathers Libraries website.
2 comments:
a library without books is simply a study space.
So what do they do when the server is down or there's a computer meltdown or a power cut ...?
Post a Comment