ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Northeastern Illinois University —New Library Building

On September 7, 1977, Northeastern Illinois University, located on Chicago’s northwest side, opened its new library building in time to provide library services for its fall trimester. The move into the new building had begun three weeks earlier on August 15, shortly before the end of the summer trimester. Reserve services were maintained in the old building until the end of the academic session, and reference services remained available via telephone throughout the move.

The entire collection and most of the staff and equipment were actually moved from the old to the new building in only two weeks through a contract with Library Relocation Consultants of Bloomington, Indiana. However, moving compact shelving and relocating some other shelving and furniture took a few days more.

The new library is designed to provide the 10,000 students who attend Northeastern Illinois University, its faculty, and staff with a facility that makes use of library collections and services as easy as possible. Four of the five floors are planned with a service desk located adjacent to the main entrance of the floors. Each floor also houses some portion of the collection arranged on open shelves, interspersed with comfortable study areas.

The new building has 149,815 gross square feet distributed over the five floors. Seating capacity is 1,505 distributed among various types of seating, including four-place tables, lounge-type chairs, individual carrels, and private and group studies. The book storage capacity is estimated at approximately 450,000 volumes.

Northeastern Illinois University’s new library building is among the largest building projects of the university s history.

Upon entering the new building, users have immediate access to both the general reference service desk (foreground) and the circulation service desk.

The entry level, or first floor of the building, emphasizes the service concept of the building. Upon entering, users can choose between a circulation service desk on one side and the general reference service desk on the other. Immediately ahead, the user finds the card catalog and, contiguous to the reference service desk, reference and general map and pamphlet collections. Also in full view as the user enters the building is the bibliographic collection, consisting of the National Union Catalog, CBI, and Books in Print.

Most of the remainder of the floor is given over to the acquisitions and catalog departments, arranged so that materials flow easily from the receiving room to acquisitions, through cataloging, and on to be shelved from the circulation area. The arrangement of the public and technical areas of the floor allows reference and catalog staffs, alike, easy access to the public catalog and to one another.

The administrative offices are also located on the first floor. Included in the administrative area is a combination conference and special collections room, where rare and valuable materials are housed.

In addition to housing a portion of the collection, the “lower level” provides a number of other facilities. The reserve book collection is circulated from a service area that allows both an “open” or “browsing” reserve collection as well as a “closed” reserve section serviced by the reserve circulation staff. In addition, the floor houses the university archives, a vending lounge for students, and a lounge for staff. This level of the library is so designed that it can be locked off from the remainder of the building and used as a study area after hours with minimal staff supervision. The exits on both the lower level and the first floor are equipped with Tattle Tape theft detectors manufactured by 3M.

A reference service desk greets users as they get off the elevators on both the second and third floors. The second floor service desk provides periodical and documents reference service. Both collections are housed on that floor together with the majority of the microform material held by the library. Forty-eight microform reader stations are nearby. Periodicals are shelved alphabetically with unbound issues stored in a separate alphabet from bound volumes.

The third floor provides education reference service. The general education collection is housed here together with the curriculum materials collection, a demonstration collection of children s literature, textbooks, maps, charts, realia, and nonbook materials. Staff at the service desk on the third floor also supervise a growing collection of AV equipment and materials.

The floor provides two preview rooms and a classroom for library-related instruction and audiovisual presentations. Another room will house several CRT’s for use in connection with the university’s academic computing program. There are also twenty-one private studies located on this floor, which will be assigned to faculty and graduate students engaged in research projects.

The fourth floor is primarily a stack and reading area. There are twenty-one more private studies in addition to a large typing room. Lounges for smokers and nonsmokers are located on several of the floors, including one each on the fourth floor. Access to the floors is available via three stair towers located at the periphery of the building. In addition, - three passenger elevators serve the public, and a service elevator provides for the transport of books and library materials. A storage staging area is located on each floor at the entrance to the service elevator.

The building is planned to be as flexible as possible. Ceiling heights (nine feet, six inches, on all floors, except on the entrance floor where the ceiling is eleven feet) have been kept uniform throughout the building to allow flexibility in seating and stack orientation. In addition, a uniform lighting-grid system, the elimination of load-bearing walls, and the location of essential services (stair towers, elevators, office areas) at the periphery of the building maintain the integrity of the thirty-foot module upon which the building is based. This also allows for great flexibility in the reorganization of internal space.

The building is carpeted throughout with a neutral beige nylon carpet. Walls are painted in shades of gray; stacks are a “dust colored” beige, and wood finishes throughout are natural oak. Tables and carrel tops throughout the buildings are surfaced with an off-white matte finish. Bright accent colors in red, orange, blue, and burgundy are introduced on the sides of the modular carrels. Lounge furniture repeats the accent colors. All chairs are Steelcase cantilever sled base with arms and bright blue upholstery.

Architect for the building was Charles E. Stade of Park Ridge, Illinois; interior design was done by Synectics Group of Chicago.

Of artistic and historical significance—

FINE FACSIMILES FROM JOHNSON REPRINT CORPORATION

Johnson Reprint Corporation has made the publishing of superior fac- similes a tradition. Many of the originals are artistic works of the first magnitude which would otherwise be virtually inaccessible. Only the most renowned scholars and craftspeople throughout the world work on the projects. Time-honored publishing methods, together with the latest technological advances, are merged to produce the facsimiles.

LEONARDO DA VINCI CORPUS OF THE ANATOMICAL STUDIES IN THE COLLECTION OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT THE ROYAL LIBRARY WINDSOR CASTLE

These are the anatomical drawings of Leonardo— the complete collection—stunning in the scope and magnitude of presentation. The English language edition is limited to only 998 sets. A Solander box contains the plates. The two text volumes include a transliteration of the Renaissance Italian, a translation into English and expert art, historical, and medical commentary. The Corpus is being published in stages, beginning October

PHILIPP FRANZ VON SIEBOLD’S UKIYO-E COLLECTION

580 Japanese woodblock prints and paintings spanning 250 years of Japanese history. Most of these works, part of the Von Siebold collection at Leiden, were so carefully stored for 150 years, that they were unwrapped for the first time to be photographed for this collection. The condition of the prints was excellent; the colors, extremely vivid. The three plate volumes and accompanying text, written by ukiyo-e experts, will form an important 1978. On April 1, 1979, the price of this monumental publication will be $6600. Until that time, the set will be offered at the special subscription price of $5000. Folio: 17.7" x 12.4"

Binding: Royal Blue Nigerian Goatskin Paper: 100% Rag Content

For further details on the ordering procedure, please send for the brochure.

addition to any collection. The English language edition is limited to 300. Published by Kodansha. Johnson Reprint Corporation has distribution rights throughout the world (except Japan).

Folio: 12.2" x 17.8"

Binding: Cloth, stamped in gold. Boxed.

Date of Publication: September, 1978 Price: $1250

EDWARD LEAR

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FAMILY OF PSITIACIDAE, OR PARROTS

Highly acclaimed when it was originally published be- tween 1830 and 1832, this work contains 42 color plates and 8 pages of text. Edward Lear, a foremost zoological illustrator, was a self-trained draftsman, lithographer and painter. Most of these hand-colored lithographs of birds are drawn from life. Edition limited to 530 copies for the world, of which 500 are for sale. Published by Johnson Reprint Corporation and Pion, Ltd.

Large Folio: 14" x 21"

Binding: Quarter-leather binding, tooled in gold Date of Publication: October, 1978 Price: $ 1,100

Send for our detailed brochures and Facsimile and Special Books Catalog. Prices subject to change without notice.