ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL NATIONAL CONFERENCE: The Carolinas’ rich library legacy: Touring Charlotte-area libraries at the ACRL National Conference

by Barbara Tierney

The Charlotte, North Carolina, area is home to many outstanding academic and public libraries. Take advantage of your participation in ACRL’s 11th National Conference in Charlotte (April 10-13, 2003) to visit several.

ACRL’s Charlotte History and Academic Library Tour (Thursday, April 10, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.) will feature visits to three or four academic libraries, as well as a tour of Uptown Charlotte and its historic neighborhoods. You may register for this tour online at http://www.ala.org/acrl/charlotte.html.

Davidson College's E. H. Little Library. Photo credit: By permission of Davidson College.

In addition to Charlotte academic libraries, don’t miss visiting the Uptown Main Branch of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. This award-winning public library (within walking distance of the Charlotte Convention Center) is the site of ACRL’s “All-Conference Reception” (Saturday, April 12, 8:00-10:00 p.m.). Your conference badge will allow admission to both the ACRL reception at the library and an ACRL private viewing of the renowned Museum of the New South (which is adjacent to the library).

The following are thumbnail sketches of several Charlotte-area colleges and universities and their libraries (presented in alphabetical order) that you will find well worth your time during the conference.¹

• Davidson College(209 Ridge Road, Davidson, North Carolina, 20 miles north of Charlotte). Davidson College is located 20 miles north of Charlotte near beautiful Lake Norman and the Catawba River. Founded by Presbyterians in 1837, the college is named for the Revolutionary War

General William Lee Davidson who died at the nearby Battle of Cowans Ford.

The college serves approximately 1,650 students on campus and is also well known for its active study-abroad program. Notable Davidson alumni include former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, former U.S.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk, novelists William Styron and Patricia Cornwell, and three North Carolina governors. In addition, Davidson claims 23 Rhodes Scholars. In the midst of a $250-million building campaign,

About the author

Barbara Tierney is associate professor and librarian at the J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, e-mail: bgtierne@email. uncc.edu

Davidson was recently ranked ninth in the category of national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report.

Davidson’s E. H. Little Library, constructed in 1974, has 500,000 volumes and 200,000 government documents. A state-of-the-art electronic classroom was recently completed and a new music library was built in the summer of 2002. Little Library employs 11 librarians with a total staff of 24. Income from more than $5 million in endowed book funds supplements the annual acquisitions budget. (http://www.davidson.edu/adu/Tdnistrative/ library/little.htm)

• Johnson C. Smith University(100 Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte, 1.5 miles from Uptown Charlotte). Johnson C. Smith University is a private, coeducational institution located just a five-minute drive from Uptown Charlotte. This historically black university was founded in 1867 and offers a liberal arts program that currently serves 1,600 students. The university employs 100 faculty and 191 staff.

With a generous gift from the Duke Endowment, Smith University’s James B. Duke Memorial Library was recenüy totally renovated, reconstructed, and reopened in September 1999-This 56,500-square-foot, 430-seat library has a modem architectural design that incorporates stateof-the-art technology, a user-friendly layout ‚ expansion flexibility, and natural light. The library includes an archives and research center, a curriculum lab, a bibliographic instruction room, a media production learning lab, an exhibits gallery, 12 study rooms, and 2 student lounges. There are approximately 73,000 volumes and 328 periodical subscriptions in the collection.

In fall 2000, Smith University implemented an initiative that provided laptop computers to the entire student body free of charge. This laptop initiative has impacted library services and program development by increasing demand for library services. Currently the library provides information literacy skills training for all students. (http://www.jcsu.edu/fstaff/academicaffair/ library.htm)

• Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County(310 N. Tryon Street, Uptown Charlotte). The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) was named “National Library of the Year” in 1995 by Library Journal and “Library of the Future” in 1996 by ALA.

Its Uptown Main Branch is the site of ACRL’s “All-Conference Reception” (Saturday, April 12, 8:00-10:00 p.m.). Completely renovated in 1989, the Uptown Main Branch is accentuated by an expansive three-story addition to its original 1956 structure. Its award-winning “Virtual Village Communication Center” is a state-of-the-art technology center that offers video editing, a digital darkroom, a musical composition laboratory, and innovative adaptive/assistive technology for patrons with disabilities.

The PLCMC library system is made up of five regional libraries and 15 branch locations serving people in neighborhoods and towns across the county. The library system holds more than 1.5 million volumes and employs more than 500 staff members. It offers more than 300 systemwide public computers and access to an award-winning family of Web sites for children and adults.

The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's library system is made up of five regional libraries and 15 branch locations Photo credit: By permission of Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.

Library staff present at least 10,000 programs to adults and children each year. PLCM's “Novello Festival of Reading” has been a fixture in the Charlotte region since the early 1990s and is known and admired nationally. It is a week-long regional festival that features talks and programs by well known authors for both adults and children. More than 40,000 persons attended Novello events in 1999. In 2000, Novello celebrated its tenth year with the launching of the Novello Festival Press, an imprint of PLCMC that focuses on discovering and publishing local and regional authors.

• Queens University(1900 Selwyn Ave., Charlotte, four miles from Uptown Charlotte). Queens University is a private liberal aits institution founded in 1857 and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It serves approximately 750 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Notable alumni include Newbery Award winning author Betsy Byars, former First Lady of North Carolina Dottie Martin, and the Mayor of Orlando, Florida, Glenda Hood.

Built in 1960, Everett Library houses a collection of more than 138,000 volumes, 391 current periodical subscriptions, and 3,000 reels of microfilm. Internet access is available at all public computer workstations in the first floor Information Commons.

Everett Library features an open modular architectural plan that allows quick, direct access to the book collections, flexibility in shelving and furniture arrangement, and centrality of staffing areas. The library was named in honor of Herschel H. Everett, who served as chairman of the Board of Trustees for Queens College (1952-1967).

The new Archives Center, remodeled in 2001, contains the Queens University Archives. The Rena Chambers Harrell Special Collections Room contains collections on Charlotte history, publications bearing Charlotte imprints, Queens University history, Queens faculty publications, and publications on the art of the bookmaker. Everett Library supports the Charlotte satellite campus of the Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education.

• University of North Carolina-Charlotte(9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, eight miles northeast of Uptown Charlotte). Founded in 1946, UNC Charlotte is a publicly funded institution that is part of the University of North Carolina State University System. UNC Charlotte currently serves approximately 15,400 undergraduate students and 3,500 graduate students.

The UNC Charlotte campus is located in a suburban area eight miles northeast of the center of Charlotte. The campus encompasses 1,000 acres of rolling hills, forests, streams, and ponds and includes the renowned VanLandingham Gardens and McMillan Greenhouse. Adjacent to the campus is University City—a planned community comprised of University Research Park, University Hospital, and the University Place Shopping district.

One of the most prominent current initiatives at UNC Charlotte is its development as a top-tier research institution. One example of this research initiative is UNC Charlotte’s December 2000 inauguration of the Charlotte Institute for Technology Innovation, which fosters cutting-edge research in the areas of optoelectronics and optical communications, precision metrology and intelligent manufacturing, and e-business technology. Over the past two years, research at UNC Charlotte has yielded 35 patents and resulted in the spin-off of more than a dozen new companies.

Ten stories high, the J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, is now the largest library in the North Carolina Piedmont Region.

The J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte is currently developing and refining its collections to support the university’s emphasis on research and technology. In 2001, Atkins Library was named a doctoral intensive institution and also became a member of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries. A $22.8-million, four-year expansion/renovation was completed in fall 2000, increasing the size of the library to more than 285,400 square feet, with 1,800 seats for reading and study, 200+ Internet access public computer workstations, and 1,200 data connections. The recently completed first floor Information Commons is expansive and filled with natural light provided by a centrally located three-story atrium.

Ten stories high, Atkins is now the largest library in the North Carolina Piedmont Region.

Housing nearly a million volumes and providing access to thousands of electronic resources, Atkins Library is also a depository for federal, state, and local documents. Its tenth floor Mary and Harry L. Dalton Rare Book and Manuscript Reading Room features official university records, Charlotte-related manuscripts and oral history tapes, and a rare book collection. Other Atkins library collections include a Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center and a Teacher Resource Center for selected educational materials produced by NASA. A team of 30 librarians and 70 staff members provide service to both university and community patrons.

North Carolina "Research Triangle" universities and their libraries

A two-and-one-half hour northeasterly drive will take you to North Carolina’s “Research Triangle” which is home to:

• Duke University(Durham, 142 miles from Charlotte) http://www.lib.duke.edu/

• North Carolina Central University(Durham, 145 miles from Charlotte) http:// www.nccu.edu/library/shepard.html

• North Carolina State University(Raleigh, 163 miles from Charlotte) http://www. lib.ncsu.edu/

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill(Chapel Hill, 145 miles from Charlotte) http://www.lib.unc.edu/

Other selected North Carolina universities and their libraries

• Appalachian State University(Boone, 104 miles from Charlotte) http:// www.library.appstate.edu/

• Elon University(Elon, 108 miles from Charlotte) http://zeus.elon.edu/library/

• Wake Forest University(Winston-Salem, 84 miles from Charlotte) http://www. wfu.edu/Library/

Selected South Carolina universities and their libraries

• Clemson University(Clemson, 134 miles from Charlotte) http://www.lib.clemson.edu/

• Furman University(Greenville, 110 miles from Charlotte) http://library.furman. edu/

• University of South Carolina(Columbia, 94 miles from Charlotte) http:// www.sc.edu/library/

• Winthrop University(Rock Hill, 24 miles from Charlotte) http://www.winthrop.edu/

Notes

1. Note of appreciation to the following persons for information and photographs included in this article: Davidson College: Leland Park, library director, and Bill Gìduz, director of media relations; Johnson C. Smith University: Inja Hong, university librarian, and Brenda Murray, administrative assistant; Public Library of Char lotte and Mecklenburg County: Rita Rouse, programming and communications director, Queens University: Carol Jordan, library director, and librarians Paula Brown and Colleen Tumage; University of North Carolina-Charlotte: Amy Dykeman, university librarian. ■