Renovation
The Mann Library is one of several libraries on the campus of Cornell University. It is located at the northern part of campus. There have been several renovations to the Mann library, but the most recent was completed in the summer of 2007. The Mann Library hosts services for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Human Ecology, and the Division of Nutritional Sciences. The collection includes books, journals, and databases in the fields of agriculture, plant and animal sciences, nutrition, food science, biology and biotechnology, natural resources and environmental sciences, textiles, and selected social sciences (applied economics, communication, design, education, family studies, housing, human development, human ecology, human services, and rural sociology).
The Mann library was built in the early 1950s, underwent transformations in the 1980s and then again in the late 1990s. At last there were plans for yet another renovation that would truly bring the antiquated building into the 21st Century. The latest renovation was a two-part phase with the second phase completing the upgrade in 2007. There were several reasons for the renovation. One was for health reasons, which lead to an update of the HVAC system; moreover, the need for updated space that met students’ multi-media needs was a larger reason for the new construction.
The renovation improved the library by creating a place where students can gather to not only access information, but to collaborate on group media projects. The second floor, the Bissett Center, was originally the library’s card catalog room, but it now features “Knowledge Bars,” which are high tables with stools grouped around large LCD screens capable of displaying group work from individual laptops. There are also movable tables and chairs that can be rearranged to accommodate any group. Alongside are also mobile workstation carts.
Other additions include a gallery and a café. The gallery has a two-story ceiling, a sound-absorbing cork floor, a flexible hanging system, and directed indoor lighting as well as natural lighting from a large window opening to the Students’ Centennial Garden. The café is called Manndible and it was created to provide a place for gathering and possibly to host events. It locally ground coffee and organic and fresh menu items.
4 comments:
It's good to see Cornell is keeping abreast with the time (however no surprise). Seeing that they underwent renovations in the 1990s then again now is a great thing for students and faculty. To meet the multi-media needs is an excellent reason for the new changes.
I really like the idea of LCD screens as a hub for gathering students together to work on projects. This allows all the students in the group to actively participate (instead of perhaps just one who is doing the typing on the computer and the rest just nodding along). The emphasis on electronics such as these is a real draw for the undergrad population at schools such as Cornell, which are more campus-based (as opposed to older, computer students), but the overall changes facilitate scholarly research for grad students and faculty. It sounds like an excellent renovation.
Oh sorry, I meant to say commuter (not computer) students in my previous post.
"large LCD screens capable of displaying group work from individual laptops" I like this idea. Don't like the high stools.
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