The Center of the Knowledge Web

One of the oddities of libraries is the fact that for so long everyday patrons weren't welcome. Early American college Libraries-including Union's-had few books and even fewer hours in which to use them. Today's libraries, of course, are community centers where everyday patrons have access to an astonishing array of knowledge. As we push more deeply into the so-called information age, that little word "access" assumes more and more importance. Certainly, access has been a key word in the planning for Union's new library, which will carry the College well into the twenty-first century. The new library will have improved access to the printed record of human learning, and it will offer electronic access to information available around the globe. In short, it will be the campus's principal connection to a world-wide web of knowledge. On these pages, we show you some of the ways that connection works.

Study areas in the new library will be varied and inviting, designed for both the solitary scholar and groups collaborating on projects. For the latter, the library will have space ranging from group study rooms to multi-user work stations-all designed to accommodate projects from classics students writing a Greek comedy to engineering students solving a structural problem.

As the world continues to open its borders, and as more and more Union students study abroad, a complete [Language laboratory be-comes a necessity. Complete now means more than a place to practice your grammar; it means satellite and cable programming from overseas, on-line newspapers, an electronic "table of contents" for hundreds of newspapers and periodicals from around the world, electronic access to reference libraries at the world's universities, the ability to communicate with friends made overseas-and more. ALL will be part of the new library.

The library's special collections includes significant first editions and original works, such as the Audubon prints shown here, as well as the College archives and the collected papers of such notable scientists as Charles P. Steinmetz. All are used regularly now by students and faculty, even though space is limited. More spacious quarters in the new building will allow better access; eventually, much of our history will be scanned, stored, and made available electronically to scholars throughout the world. Anyone wanting to know about the liberal arts and engineering, for example, would find our records indispensable.

Library collections come in many configurations-printed materials, CD-ROM, software collections, microfiche and microfilm, machine-readable data files, records, cassettes, laserdisks, and videotapes. For many kinds of information, print will continue to be the most cost effective and appropriate format. In the new library, stack space for our traditional print resources, which approach half a million volumes, will be transformed. Books will be more accessible, and the reconfigured space will accommodate the projected growth of Union's collections. librarian

If the world is literally at your fingertips, how do you sort through everything to find what you need? Enter the as teacher. The new library will have the space and the facilities for staff members to lead individual and group training sessions on choosing among the vast array of electronic research tools available, from online reference materials to electronic journals that are accessible almost as soon as they are written. Already, the library is seeing a significant increase in use by students and faculty in circulation, reserve, reference, and bibliographic instruction.

Writing will always be a part of college, whether the equipment used is a No. 2 pencil and a yellow pad or a notebook computer. Today, every Union student completes several writing-intensive courses and a senior writing experience such as a thesis or seminar paper. Accompanying the College's commitment to writing has been the development of a Writing Center, where students can be helped by tutors. Now located in tight quarters at the top of Whitaker House, the Writing Center will move to the new library, right in the middle of almost any reference source a student writer could need.

Think of the Internet as a combination book, radio, magazine, mailbox, television set, bulletin board, and conversation center. Install a browser program-the College uses Netscape's Navigator-and you can roam the World Wide Web. Want to have a conversation with a mathematician at the University of Melbourne? Or see the Louvre's programs for the month? Or check on Japanese economic forecasts? It's all there at the click of a mouse. For your information: Union's electronic address is http://www.union.edu

The renovation of Schaffer Library will transform a building constructed thirty-five years ago into a "smart building"-a structure designed, wired, and equipped to change with the times. The project will not change the front facade facing the Nott Memorial nor the amount of land occupied. Inside, however, will be a different story. In a sense, the building will be restarted; almost everything-from heating, lighting, and ventilation to stack space to data and communication links-will be new. All of the additions will be designed to provide student and faculty researchers with the swiftest possible access to information sources around the world. The project's construction cost is estimated at $12.6 million. The College also will build two endowments to support the library-one, for $2 million, will provide for future maintenance; the other, for $3 million, will allow planned upgrades and replacements of technological resources.

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