Academic Libraries: Take a Tour of the Soon to Open James B. Hunt Library at North Carolina State University

The Hunt Library is scheduled to open on January 2, 2013. The facility was recently opened to media for a tour.
Multimedia Image Gallery (via WRAL)
34 images taken during media tour on December 13, 2012.
From the News and Observer:

The James B. Hunt Jr. Library, a startling digital re-boot of what it means to be a university library and the new heart of NCSU’s fast-growing Centennial Campus, opens Jan. 2.
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“For the first time in my career, I just fielded a call from Architectural Digest,” David Hiscoe, director of communications for NCSU libraries, said during the tour. “Some people are already calling it the face of N.C. State University in this century.”
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A key feature is the nearly 100 rooms that students can reserve to work together on projects, with screens to display work from their laptops and OK-to-write-on walls that can be treated as giant whiteboards.
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And it’s such a thorough rethinking of the functions performed by libraries that at one point in the tour Hiscoe felt compelled reassure visitors that they would actually get to see books.
Not many, though. The vast majority, about 1.5 million volumes, are packed into dense storage that is accessible only by the robots that retrieve them. The system takes up about one-ninth the volume the books would require if stored on traditional shelves.

Read the Complete Article
See Also: Learn More About The Hunt Library:

• Virtual Exhibition
• Fast Facts (PDF)
• FAQ
• Images and Videos

See Also: NC State University’s “Library of the Future” Scheduled to Open in 3 Months (October 3, 2012)

The Hunt Library bookBot (with Virtual Browse) in Action

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, News