New Library Ribbon Cutting

By Vinny Reda
Gov. George Pataki joined President Karen R. Hitchcock at a special ribbon cutting ceremony that formally unveiled the University's new library on Tuesday in the Library Atrium.

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assemblyman John McEneny (shown here with Governor Pataki) spoke at the morning event, which celebrated the first new academic building on campus in 30 years.

"This magnificent new library is just one example of the historic investments we are making in the SUNY system, one of the finest university systems in America," said Govemor Pataki to an assembled crowd of guests and media. "This state-of-the-art facility is a very concrete symbol of the intellectual resources available at the University at Albany and throughout the State University system. It is truly a 21st century resource for students, faculty, citizens of the region, and scholars from New York State and around the world."

The project also marks an important private-public partnership. New York State provided $26.6 million to construct and equip the new library, but the University is currently engaged in a $3.5 million campaign for private support that will fully coordinate and upgrade all three of the campus's libraries.

"For those of us at the University who have seen this project grow from an inspiration based on critical need to an exceptional academic facility affording limitless educational opportunity, today is a day of enormous gratitude — gratitude to all who have made the 14-year-long endeavor possible," said President Hitchcock.

A multipurpose building, the new library contains the University's half-million volume Science Library; the University's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Leaming; and laboratory facilities for instructional technology.

The 142,430 square-foot, five-story facility also houses electronic multimedia workshops and seminar rooms; more than 500 seats for users; the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives; and the Library Preservation and Digital Imaging Laboratory.

"We planned our newest library building to be an inviting, beautiful and functional facility in which students and faculty may pursue research, discovery and collaborative learning with ease," Meredith Butler, dean and director of Libraries, said last week. "It was designed to serve both analog and digital needs and it should do that very well."

A decade ago, the campus realized that the Main and Dewey facilities were not equipped to face the new challenges of the modern library. The growth and transformation of information technology required new space and facilities for such features as on-line databases and integrated Internet access, and a campus whose student body had doubled since 1967 needed expanded library facilities of all types.
"With its advanced technology, its ubiquitous electric and data connections, its increased access to information resources, and its mix of individual and group study spaces and meeting rooms, the new library building should meet faculty and student needs well into the next century," said Butler.
Still, a challenge remains to complete the project. Although the cost of the new structure was allocated by the Legislature, a campaign for an additional $3.5 million in private support was launched last year. Its goal is to provide equipment and technology that will lift and coordinate the levels of all the University Libraries to the most modern and efficient capacity possible.
Approximately $2.3 million has been raised in the campaign thus far. The rest is within reach, because the Kresge Foundation has pledged $500,000 toward the $3.5 million goal — but only if $3 million is raised by Dec. 31 of this year. The push toward that final $700,000 in private funding is therefore now being made with renewed vigor.