NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 27 number 3 - Spring 2007
D. H. Hill Library East Wing Reopens March 2007: New Reading
Room and Exhibit Gallery
By Greg Raschke, Collections and Scholarly Communication
As part of the D. H. Hill East Wing renovation, the NCSU Libraries
has created a well-appointed, cherry-paneled Special Collections
Research Center, a combination of public space on the
first floor and staff work space and secure compact shelving on
the ground floor. The public space includes a reading room, conservatory,
and state-of-the-art, museum-quality exhibition gallery.
The reading room is furnished with large Thos. Moser tables and
chairs for individual or group study, wireless network capability,
and a historic collection of books authored by NC State faculty.
The reading room also incorporates a new special collections service
area featuring dedicated tables, public service staff, and expanded
hours from 8:00 A.M. to 6:30 P.M. Monday through Saturday. The
conservatory showcases the stunning astral bench resting on an
oriental rug and a dichroic glass sculpture by artist Joy Wulke.
Together, these spaces create a comfortable, attractive environment
for contemplative study and scholarship.
The exhibition gallery is outfitted with casework from Helmut
Guenschel, a leading exhibit case designer, slate-and-cherry flooring,
and seating for comfortable viewing of exhibits. The inaugural
exhibition in the gallery, B. W. Wells: Pioneer Ecologist (see volume
27.2 of Focus), features the unique story of one of North
Carolina’s first ecologists and the botanically diverse savannah
ecosystem he identified in 1920. Wells created a set of glass lantern
slides of landscapes and plants--many hand-tinted--that visually
documented North Carolina’s ecology from the coast to the
western mountains. The exhibition will emphasize the beauty and
significance of Wells’s photographs and highlight his accomplishments
as scientist and conservation pioneer.
The gallery forms the centerpiece of the growing exhibition program
that supports the Libraries' role as an intellectual center
of the university. The program emphasizes sharing and interpretation
of library collections and the promotion of their scholarly use.
The new gallery space provides a centerpiece for the program and
is certain to become a vibrant gathering place where NC State can
educate, enrich, and interact with the community.
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