Contact: David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries, (919) 513-3425
(Raleigh, N.C.)—North Carolina State University officials today broke ground on a new state-of-the-art library for its Centennial Campus that, through its innovative design and technological sophistication, will set the standard for 21st century academic and research libraries. According to Susan Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries, the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library— named for the former North Carolina governor—“seeks nothing less than to create the best learning and collaborative space in the country.”

The 1,334-acre Centennial Campus serves as NC State’s research park and is home to more than 120 government, industry, and university partners who work collaboratively to drive growth in North Carolina and to work on some of the planet’s most pressing problems. The campus was named outstanding research park by the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) in 2007.

The Hunt Library will be a signature building that will serve as the intellectual and social heart of the rapidly growing population on the Centennial Campus, embodying the essence of the research park as a community built around knowledge. Anchoring the Centennial Campus' academic oval, the new library will embody the spirit of NC State's competitive advantage in science and technology and will be a major factor in attracting and retaining the best faculty, students, and corporate partners.

The Hunt Library will also begin to provide a much-needed solution for the shortage of study seating at the university. The NCSU Libraries can currently seat less than 5% of NC State students at a time when use of the Libraries is growing dramatically. In April 2008, for example, the Libraries averaged over 16,000 visits a day; visits increased by 42% in the last academic year alone. The UNC system standard is to provide study seating for 20% of students. The Hunt Library will double the NCSU Libraries' available study seats.

The library, located in the center of much of NC State’s engineering, textiles, science, and technology expertise, will also continue to enhance the NCSU Libraries’ role as technology incubator on campus. The NCSU Libraries has made its mark by providing generations of students and faculty with access to the latest technology. From its iconic design to the latest in computing and collaboration tools, the Hunt Library will prepare students to lead and support cutting-edge research in a technology-driven economy.

The Hunt Library will contain an automated book-retrieval system–allowing space and budget normally consumed by book “stacks” to be used for learning spaces and technologies to assist students.

"We are absolutely thrilled that the university is going to have one of the finest academic and research libraries anywhere in the world,” adds Nutter. “This building will mark the beginning of a new era in learning and collaboration at NC State University.”

Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee Architecture (PBC+L), a North Carolina architectural firm that specializes in academic and cultural arts projects with an emphasis on higher education, will serve as architects for Hunt Library. Snøhetta, the designers for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, will serve as lead designers. Snøhetta was recently awarded the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Prize, Europe’s most prestigious award for architectural excellence.

Construction is expected to be complete in 2012.

Visit the renovated William Rand Kenan, Jr. Library of Veterinary Medicine during the open house on Thursday, October 29, from 4-6 p.m. We invite you to see the new spaces, in and outside of the library, and enjoy light refreshments with us and your colleagues in the library. It will also be a great time to follow up on library resources you may need. The main entrance is still closed for construction, so you will be escorted from the IAMS entrance to the library for the open house. This event is open to all so please share with anyone who might enjoy seeing the library. Directions are available online. Contact us via email or call 919-513-6219 if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you!

Find out how NC State is transforming forensic science.

You won’t usually find our faculty featured on the latest edition of COPS, but the university is increasingly becoming the scourge of those who break the law and a source of hope for those unjustly accused. Our security and safety is due in part to our ability to prosecute criminals by applying rigorous science and engineering concepts to the law. This is forensic science, a field that is fascinating to scientists and non-scientists alike—and to almost anyone who watches much television these days. It is a discipline critical to ensuring security, safety and a just society. And a discipline that our textiles, engineering, computer science, and microbiology faculty are transforming.

Can you name a discipline that spans textiles, anthropology, entomology, archaeology, chemistry, statistics, computer science and visualization, data mining and library science, material science, toxicology, botany, microbiology, biology, physics, geology, psychology, linguistics, mechanical and civil engineering, and environmental science? Renowned experts at NC State in all these fields–representing all colleges–are increasingly applying their expertise to advancing the field of forensics, ultimately through a rigorous new Forensic Sciences Institute (FSI) here at the university.

Find out more on November 3 at the annual fall luncheon sponsored by the NCSU Friends of the Library, where Professor David Hinks from the Department of Textile Engineering Chemistry and Science will talk about NC State’s synergistic approach to the art. Hinks will tell us about the initiative to pull together transformative cross-functional teams in the research and development of scientifically rigorous methods to advance the field of forensics as a post-disciplinary science.

Learn, for instance, how NCSU’s Textiles Library has become a threat to the bad guys with our unique collection of almost all automotive fabric samples from domestic and imported cars from 1955 to 2006. While one might think this collection might be of interest to only a few automotive and textile designers, it is fascinating to federal and SBI crime investigators. Many crimes involve cars, and fibers become key evidence in criminal investigations more often than DNA evidence. NCSU is developing an unprecedented analytical database of dyed fibers for use in forensic investigations based on this library collection.

Event Details:
Tuesday, November 3, noon-1:30 p.m.
NC State’s McKimmon Center
$18 for Friends of the Library members; $25 for the general public
Reservations or questions:(919)515-2841 or friends_of_the_library@ncsu.edu. This event is part of the ongoing NCSU Libraries Fabulous Faculty Series. The Friends of the Library is part of the NCSU Foundation.

This Friday the lieutenant governor, the interim chancellor, the president of the UNC system, the NC State student body president, as well as James B. Hunt Jr. and other state and university officials, will officially break ground on the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library.

NC State University’s Centennial Campus is known across the U.S. and internationally as a groundbreaking model for a community built around knowledge, a research park where university, corporate, and government groups work together to shape North Carolina’s future. The Hunt Library will be a beautiful and inspiring “signature” building that will embody the entrepreneurial aspirations of the university, acting as a much-needed intellectual and social heart for the Centennial Campus. The iconic new library will house our engineering, textiles, and parts of our hard sciences collections and will embody the spirit of NC State's competitive advantage in science and technology. It is expected to be a key factor in attracting and retaining the best faculty, students, and corporate partners.

In the design of this landmark building, NC State seeks nothing less than to create the best learning and collaborative space in the country.

The Hunt Library will also begin to remedy a substantial seating problem that has handicapped NC State. The UNC system standard is to provide library study seating for 20% of the student population; NC State is far below that standard; we are currently able to seat less than 5% of our students. The Hunt Library will double our study seating capacity.

The NCSU Libraries currently receives up to 16,000 visits a day, more than enough to fill up Reynolds Coliseum. Visits increased by 42% during the 2008/09 academic year.

Check out the ongoing construction on our live web cams.

Choose one of the web cameras below and watch the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library starting to take shape on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Careful though—it’s surprising how addictive watching backhoes, a steam shovel and several dump trucks can be.

Camera One (mounted west of the site on the Partners I building—an especially good view of the construction on the south end of the building facing Lake Raleigh)

Camera Two (mounted west of the site on the Corporate Research I building— a great vantage point to view the north end of the site)

A couple of hints:
Take control-You can move the camera to survey the site, so be sure to experiment with the controls under the photo to survey the site for interesting goings on.

Hit the “Home” button before you start-The person who controlled the camera before you may have stopped while looking at a roof or parking lot, or zooming in on a random tree. So hit the “Home” button (located below the image to the right of the controls).

Enjoy the Experience-Each viewer gets to control the camera for 60 seconds. If you aren’t first in line, you can see at the bottom of the web page what number you are in the queue and how long your wait will be.