Hunt Library in the News
USPTO selects Centennial Campus for its expanding community engagement infrastructure
August 18, 2026
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s press release explains their decision to locate their new community engagement office on Centennial Campus. An article in Hoodline notes the importance of the Hunt Library: Raleigh Lands First NC Patent Office as Inventors Filings Jump 35 Percent (PDF version).
The Hunt Library ranks high in most amazing college libraries listing
2025
College Raptor, a website dedicated to helping prospective students find their perfect college, has ranked the Hunt Library as number two in "10 of the Most Amazing College Libraries in the US."
The 14th most beautiful library in the world
December 11, 2020
The “Best Value Schools” website has honored the Hunt Library by ranking it as 14th in its listing of the world’s 50 most beautiful libraries.
Local ABC affiliate WTVD visits Hunt Library
January 25, 2019
"Everything from the architecture to the chairs were designed to tell a story and create an inspiring space for students and visitors." WTDV's article includes a video of the news clip.
Hunt Library's bookBot "hands down the coolest thing" in Raleigh according to Washington Post
January 16, 2019
The Washington Post’s article on Raleigh lists the bookBot as a must-see. "From the lobby of this award-winning STEM library, you can watch the robot zip down giant aisles and fetch a bar coded book in minutes. This Jetsons-like design enables the library to hold 2 million books in one-ninth the space of traditional stacks."
News and Observer: Hunt Library recreating key moment in civil rights history
January 17, 2015
The Raleigh News and Observer explores how the Virtual MLK Project will use the Hunt Library for an immersive recreation of the 1960 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Fill up the jails" speech in Durham, North Carolina, using the Library's technology to allow "historical speeches and sermons [to] be better understood if -re-experienced as closely as possible to the original, rather than simply being read."
Hunt Library Centerpiece of "Prosperity" Award
November 5, 2014
Calling it "a smart library for the 21st century," the Hunt Library was cited as a key factor in the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' choice to honor NC State's Centennial Campus with its second annual Innovation and Economic Prosperity University award as one of the nation’s most innovative and productive economic engines.
Hunt Library wins AIA award as exemplary education project
September 5, 2014
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has awarded the Hunt Library a 2014 Educational Facility Design Excellence Award for furthering NC State's "mission, goals and educational program while demonstrating excellence in architectural design."
The Hunt Library as "imaginarium"
August 31, 2014
Higher Ed Tech Decisions explores how the Hunt Library creates "a digital playground that inspires research and innovation."
WRAL: "Hunt Library hailed as a modern marvel"
August 12, 2014
WRAL explores how the extensive press coverage about the Hunt Library has raised the profile of N.C. State, North Carolina, and the Raleigh community in global discussions about innovative research and education.
Hunt Library wins 2014 Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries
March 21, 2014
As an innovative model for the research library as a high-technology research platform, the Hunt Library has won the profession's most prestigious award for research libraries.
"Raleigh’s 50-Foot Librarian: Hunt Library"
February 25, 2014
"N.C. State asked for a library that, at its core, in its every facet, reached out to serve its students. That’s what it got," concludes Our State magazine in a feature article about the Hunt Library.
Hunt Library featured in "Year in Architecture 2013"
November 15, 2013
Citing the Hunt Library as setting "a new benchmark for access to immersive technologies," Library Journal features Robot Alley in its 2013 "Year in Architecture" issue.
Hunt Library featured as "library of the future" in The Globe and Mail
October 22, 2013
Canada's premier news outlet, The Globe and Mail, explores the Hunt Library as the "university library of the future," a space where "books are important but people are central."
The Hunt Library honored in "2013 Library Design Showcase"
September 4, 2013
Each year American Libraries magazine honors libraries that "are shining examples of innovative architecture that addresses user needs in unique, interesting, and effective ways." For the second year in a row, the Libraries was recognized, this time for helping to "build the future" with the "award-winning design of the James B. Hunt Jr Library."
The Hunt Library celebrated in Library Journal
September 18, 2013
Library Journal features the Hunt Library as the cover story—"Tomorrow, Visualized"—for its annual Library by Design supplement. Rebecca T. Miller's editorial, "Learning from NCSU: Where Innovation and Investment Meet," explains and celebrates "what a great library can bring to a campus.”
The Hunt Library highlighted as “a library of tomorrow”
September 12, 2013
Forbes.com and SAP focus on the Hunt Library in a piece on "reinventing libraries for the future."
"An arc of the imagination," says Architect Magazine
June 25, 2013
The magazine of the American Institute of Architects explains why the Hunt Library is an iconic social monument.
Ploughshares magazine puts the Hunt Library on point for digital renaissance
June 6, 2013
Citing the Hunt Library as its core example, Ploughshares magazine reminds us: "It is with good reason that we remember the Library of Alexandria today as a fulcrum of intellectual curiosity and invention. Just as libraries modernized with the invention of printing, why can’t libraries today enjoy another, digital renaissance?"
The Hunt Library wins ALA/AIA Building Award
May 28, 2013
Commenting that "this new library . . . was clearly designed to expand the idea of 'library' and introduce students and faculty to 21st century scholarship," the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association have named the Hunt Library a 2013 recipient of the prestigious AIA/ALA Building Award.
The Hunt Library Wins City of Raleigh Environmental Award
April 22, 2013
The Hunt Library was honored with the Non-Residential Green Design Award by the City of Raleigh at its sixth annual Environmental Awards celebration on April 22 “for its sustainable design and technology that reduces energy use by 31 percent.”
Architect magazine on the Hunt Library
April 3, 2013
The official magazine of the American Institute of Architects says that Snøhetta and the Libraries "set a new benchmark for technologically-sophisticated collaborative learning spaces with the design of the new Hunt Library."
ABC11 covers "5 floors of innovation"
April 4, 2013
ABC11's Elaina Athans' video coverage of the April 3 official dedication of the Hunt Library observes that "jobs are the driver of this facility" and concludes with Chancellor Randy Woodson that "this is a campus you come to to do amazing things--and here you do them in an amazing space."
"A library unlike any other"
April 3, 2013
WRAL's Renee Chou explores the Hunt Library's place as the new heart for NC State's Centennial Campus, ending with Chancellor Randy Woodson's observation that "it's about transformation, it's about economic development--we wanted a space that says that to the world."
Hunt Library ranked in top 25 libraries in the world
March 21, 2013
Complex magazine's Art&Design website has ranked the Hunt Library as one of the "25 coolest college libraries" in the world in a list that includes a range of buildings from beautifully traditional spaces such as Trinity College Library in Dublin to the stunningly ultra-modern University of Indonesia Central Library in Jakarta.
Public radio uses the Hunt Library to examine what a library should be "in today's high tech age"
March 5, 2013
In an hour long segment, WUNC's The State of Things asks, "what does the Hunt Library suggest that libraries can be" and explores the future of libraries in the age of Google.
Hunt Library awarded regional "top university development" honors
February 11, 2013
For 20 years, the Triangle Business Journal has annually awarded "The Space" honors to real estate leaders and projects that have contributed significantly to economic development in central North Carolina. In a January 31 ceremony, the Hunt Library was chosen as the "Top University Development" for the year.
The academic library with the widest array of technologies in the country
January 7, 2013
That's the conclusion of a recent Hunt Library Associated Press article picked up by newspapers, TV stations, and websites across the country, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express, AOL.com, and the Washington Observer--among many others. The companion AP video story gives a great book's-eye view of the bookBot.
The “Plugged-In Library of the Future”
January 3, 2013
Raleigh-based Scientific American blogger Scott Huler explores the evolution of the role of libraries embodied in the Hunt Library.
A “21st-century library”
December 2012
Architizer.com explores the innovative and progressive design of the Hunt Library, highlighting its inclusion of new technology and collaborative spaces.
Committing ourselves to progress
December 18, 2012
Governor Hunt's hometown paper, The Wilson Times places the Hunt Library into perspective as a centerpiece for Centennial Campus and a step forward in North Carolina's history and economic development.
A sneak peek into the Hunt Library
December 18, 2012
Raleigh's WRAL presents a multimedia gallery a month prior to opening.
The Hunt Library helps transform high-tech construction collaboration
September 10, 2012
ENRSoutheast magazine features the Hunt Library as a building that "intended to transform collaborative learning, is itself educating its builders" on collaboration in design and construction.
Library at NC State Designed for Distinction
January 2012
Civil Engineering magazine explores the engineering challenges of creating an iconic space.
Everything you can imagine . . . and more
September 13, 2011
The NCSU Libraries has launched a $10,000,000 initiative to ensure that the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library can become nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the country.