While
visions of the information future inform every aspect of the building’s
design, both architects and librarians understood that they could not
anticipate
every change that time would bring. For this reason, the architects,
Shepley
Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, designed a building that consists
almost
entirely of strikingly large and open spaces, maximizing future
flexibility.
Technology and Group Study Rooms Technology (maximum capacity, not current levels): 791
public workstations (primarily carrels and classrooms) and 64
public
look-up terminals.
Approximately
40% of all public seating and 100% of all 23 group study rooms
have
data capability. A least one group study room on each floor has
barrier-free
seating and adaptive equipment. (Group study rooms are reserved at the
Circulation Desk or via a phone call to x5335.)
The ramp just past the Circulation Desk is the point at which you enter the new building (the extension). As you come down the ramp you can see the metal strip along the length of the floor; it marks the division between the renovated Library to the left and the new building to your right. The Information Services Desk is located straight ahead and to the left as you pass the elevators. Librarians are available here for research assistance all hours the Library is open. Across from the Desk is the Reference Collection and 35 computers with Internet access. The adjacent Reference
Reading Room features double-story windows that look out on the
Lily
Pond. In this room one will find an original work of art by
Elizabeth
Murray, who will be the subject of MOMA's first major exhibit after
their
renovation.
The 144 seat Woody Tanger Auditorium across from the Information Services Desk features:
The Workshop Center located across from the Information Services desk has 14 workstations and is scheduled by Information Services. Library Classrooms (rooms 120 & 122) have 30 seats each and both have data capability. Research Services and Interlibrary Loan is located at the end of the corridor to the right of the Information Service Desk. Research Services obtains library materials—books, articles from periodicals, documents, etc.—that are not owned by the Brooklyn College Library. These services are extended to Brooklyn College faculty, staff, both undergraduate and graduate students and members of the IRPE. Requests can be made at the Information Services Desk, by fax or phone, by e-mail, or on the Internet, through the Library’s web page. Archives and Special Collections—located to the left of the Information Services Desk—was established in 1950 and is committed to acquiring, preserving, and providing access to the records of enduring value that document the Brooklyn College community. The department also collects both published and unpublished works relating to the unique cultural, social, and historical development of the Borough of Brooklyn and its many and varied neighborhoods. The holdings of the Archives and Special Collections Department are divided into five distinct and unique collections. They include the Brooklyn College Archives, the Brooklyniana Collection, the Hess Collection, the Historical Manuscript Collection, and the Rare Book Collection. As a point of interest, the department has a separate HVAC system, which keeps the area cooler than other parts of the library and their sprinklers are time-delayed so that in the event of an emergency they can be shut down before they dampen the collection.
Second Floor Circulating
Book Collection
A-N The Walter
W. Gerboth Music Library, named in memory of its principal founder
and first librarian, was established more than fifty years ago and and
has been significantly augmented by substantial bequests over the
years.
The collection is comprised of printed music scores, collected works,
sound
and video recordings, books, periodicals, and reference materials.
Subject
strengths lie in books about American music and performing editions of
musical compositions. Materials with a Brooklyn Music location in the
library
catalog, CUNY+, must be requested, borrowed, and returned at the Music
Library service desk
The Juvenile Collection is located just to the right of the Music Library service desk.
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The La Guardia Reading Room (to the right as you exit the elevator on the 2nd floor) houses circulating art books (call numbers beginning with N) and the Folio (oversized) book collection. In the center of the room are two recently restored WPA murals by the Italian-born artist, Olindo Mario Ricci. Originally dedicated on March 16, 1939, the murals were started in a lower Manhattan studio and completed three years later in the La Guardia Hall clock tower. These are the only WPA murals in New York that depict libraries. The two are collectively titled, Famous Libraries of the World. Each consists of two panels—eleven feet high and twelve feet and eight feet long, respectively. The Alexandrian Library (on right side or Northwest wall) represents a corner of the Alexandrian Library at the height of its cultural splendor. Through the open window on the left one sees the lighthouse of Pharos constructed by Sostratus during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus in the third century B.C. One can see the Heptastadium and the ancient city, whose panorama continues in the open doorway on the right. The figures are scholars. On the left is Callimachus (the librarian) holding a scroll and a Jewish translator at work on the Septuagint. On the right panel Euclid sits holding a compass while surrounded by students; Archimedes (the mathematician) studies; and Ptolemy Philadelphus, Alexandria’s ruler, enters accompanied by a scribe. The two remaining figures may represent Theocritus and Aristophanes.
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