On Thursday, Oct. 22, the Office of the Provost, together with Catherine Murray-Rust, dean of Libraries and vice provost for Academic Effectiveness, will host Reimagination and Renewal: A Town Hall on Georgia Tech’s Library Renewal Project.

Scheduled for 11 a.m. in Room 152, Clough Commons, the town hall will discuss the phased approach for the forthcoming renovation and renewal of Price Gilbert and Crosland Tower.

The guiding vision of the renovation is to reimagine the library of the 21st century, enabling Georgia Tech students and faculty to explore the past and design the future by bringing together inspirational spaces, curated content, expert guidance and scholarly communities. Once completed, the renovation doubles current seating capacity, includes virtual browsing and collaborations with Emory University, and will feature a host of new user-centric features for students and faculty including a library store, faculty reading room, teaching and innovation studios, project rooms and collections showcases, among others.

“The library renewal project is so much more than just a renovation of physical space,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “Rather, this undertaking is truly an innovation on the idea of what a library can and should be for the students of the 21st century as they interact with scholarly resources, technology and each other.”

Use of the Georgia Tech Library and its collection has changed over time. Specifically, physical checkouts of print books have decreased dramatically. Instead, a growing majority of students utilize the secure e-resources and full-text articles licensed and made available by the Georgia Tech Library. Notably, visits to the library and usage of electronic resources are at an all-time high.

Because of that growing trend and preservation concerns for the Library’s collection, Georgia Tech and Emory University have partnered to jointly construct and operate a climate-controlled facility called the Library Service Center (LSC), which will house 95 percent of Georgia Tech’s paper and microform collections. Although offsite, users will have the ability to reserve material online and retrieve it from the LSC quickly and easily. Students and faculty will continue to have the ability to pick up books at the Library, but may also access the books directly at the LSC.

Having easier access to Emory University’s collection will grant Georgia Tech users greater access to resources, particularly in the humanities, social sciences, and medical areas. With growing partnerships in various academic disciplines, a combined Library collection between Georgia Tech and Emory will have important implications on current and future collaborations.

“Creating a research library for this century means building on the tradition of libraries as places in which the scholarship of the present and the future is created in the presence of the scholarship of the past,” said Murray-Rust. “We in the library are grateful to the Institute's leadership and the Board of Regents for the opportunity to renew the buildings and for support for the collaboration with Emory University. Together these initiatives challenge us to enhance research and teaching in the online and the physical libraries in ways we have only begun to imagine.” 

The renovations will impact the way students interface with their library service, access information and interact in the physical space. Moving the collection makes way for more innovation and study space for students and dedicated faculty space. The renovations have sustainability implications as well as energy usage will be reduced by 60 percent.

Any interested faculty, students or staff are invited to submit questions in advance of the meeting via email to provostsoffice@mail.gatech.edu. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions during the meeting.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the Office of the Provost will also host Help Transform Georgia Tech’s Educational Landscape: A Town Hall on the Educational Innovation Ecosystem. Scheduled for 11 a.m. in Room 1443, Klaus Advanced Computing Building, the town hall will discuss a new, unified initiative between Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U), Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to grow, support, and expand the educational experience at Georgia Tech.