University of Florida to dedicate Library West on Jan. 26
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The dedication ceremony for the renovated and expanded humanities and social sciences library, Library West, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in the library on the University of Florida campus.
Dale B. Canelas, director of university libraries, will open the ceremony, followed by remarks from Bernie Machen, president of the University of Florida.
Ralf Remshardt, associate professor and chairman of the university libraries committee, will accept the building for the faculty. John Boyles, president of the student body, will accept for the students.
Michael Connelly, UF alumnus and best-selling author, will present the address “On Libraries.” A former police reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Connelly is the author of 11 acclaimed Harry Bosch thrillers, including “Echo Park,” published in 2006, and several stand-alone best sellers, including the highly acclaimed legal thriller, “The Lincoln Lawyer,” which debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best seller list in 2005. He has won numerous awards for his writing.
Library West opened in 1967 with 600,000 volumes and 600 study spaces as the Graduate Research Library – the first in the southeastern United States.
The library closed in December 2003, following many changes in allocation and use of its space. Reopened in August 2006, the “new” Library West is a campus center for study, collaboration, intellectual exploration and access to the world of electronic information. Design considerations for the new building included integration of electronic and print resources, support for new teaching methodologies, the needs of physically challenged students and the conditions required for the preservation of paper-based collections. Designed to be the laboratory for teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences, the aim was to provide a comprehensive collection for advanced work combined with electronic support for the integration of digital technologies, and to meet the particular needs of both undergraduate and graduate students.
Compact shelving can hold 1.7 million volumes from the humanities and social sciences, and the building can seat 1,400. The library has 20 group study rooms, 84 graduate studies, 36 faculty studies, study booths, a presentation area, digital media center, two training rooms, a graduate student floor and 139 general-use computers.
Canelas said, “Library West is now poised to take its place at the very core of UF’s scholarly life. No part of a university is more the product of the intelligence of the past than its library. It is best seen as the cumulative contributions of all those who have thought and have written, and then of those who have made it their concern to preserve the record and pass it on.”