Individual Article:
The first floor of the Main Library gets an important update
If you've been in the Library lately, you've noticed the new Information Commons on the first floor. The space has been updated with new carpeting, paint, furniture, and computer equipment and is now being heavily used by students. At the end of the spring quarter, the renovation work will continue. New elements will be added to the Information Commons; Circulation and Interlibrary Loan service points will be renovated; first-floor traffic areas will be redesigned; and the new book alcove will return in a new location.
In the Information Commons area, a group collaboration room will be built in the northeast corner, diagonally across from the Information Commons service desk. This room will offer state-of-the-art technology to aid students working together on course projects and presentations. Students will have access to two wall-mounted boards that “capture” work in digital form and save it to electronic files. One board uses camera technology to digitize written work from a regular white board, and the other digitizes written work and also records images projected onto the board. Seating will be flexible and comfortable, arranged around a low table which houses power, data, and video connections for laptops. Additional laptop connections will be located around the perimeter of the room. A new ceiling and lighting are also planned throughout the commons area.
The Circulation Department service windows will be consolidated from two to one. Two self-check out computers will be housed just to the east or to the right of the service window. A bulletin board will be installed to the right of these computers. The location of the service window for Interlibrary Loan will not change, but the service counter will be upgraded and a book drop added. The exterior walls of both of these departments will be redesigned as part of the overall renovation on the first floor.
The book alcove will be located at the east end of the first floor, in a room that currently serves as a reference classroom (directly across from the escalator). The alcove will include the new fiction corner and two book displays, one for titles published by Northwestern University Press and the second for faculty publications. A new reference classroom is now being planned.
The main traffic areas will receive a new ceiling and lighting, new carpeting and wall colors. Carpet tiles will be in a palette of warm grey with striations of black, tan, gold, and brown. The tiles will coordinate with the warm colors of the carpet tiles in the Information Commons. The light oak installed in earlier renovation work will also be used in the first-floor traffic areas. Wood paneling will be installed at the entrances to major service areas. These wood entrances, called portals by the architects, will be used to designate areas including Reference; Periodicals, Newspapers and Microtexts; the stairs to lower-level collections and NUIT Academic Technologies services; and entrances to the Deering Library building.
The most dramatic change will be the ceiling along the main stretch of the thoroughfare running from the main entrance of the Library to Periodicals. A ceiling grid of wood slats in the same warm-toned oak used elsewhere will be installed. Strips of lights will be staggered above the grid along the length of the long space to shine through the slats to evenly light the floor, but make highlights along the wood slats of the ceiling. New downlights will light the way to the Deering building. A suspended wood ceiling with new lighting will come from the elevator lobby and project out into the space.
The architects are making use of architectural elements to provide Library users with visual cues to help them find what they're looking for. The space is being redefined to encourage students and faculty to meet, converse, and exchange ideas.
John Blosser