ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 80 / C&RL N ew s ■ F e b ru a ry 2003 A CRL NATIONAL CONFERENCE The Carolinas’ rich library legacy Touring Charlotte-area libraries at the ACRL National Conference by Barbara Tierney T h e Charlotte, North Carolina, area is hom e to many outstanding academic and public libraries. Take advantage o f your participation in ACRL’s 11th National Conference in Char­ lotte (April 10-13, 2003) to visit several. ACRL’s Charlotte History and Academic Li­ brary Tour (Thursday, April 10,10 a.m.-2 p.m.) will feature visits to three or four academic librar­ ies, as well as a tour of Uptown Charlotte and its historic neighborhoods. You may register for this to u r o n lin e at h t t p :/ /w w w .a la .o r g /a c r l / charlotte.htm l. In addition to Char­ lotte academic libraries, d o n ’t miss visiting the U ptow n Main Branch of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklen­ b u r g C o u n ty . T h is aw ard-w inning public library (within walking distance o f th e Char­ lotte C onvention Cen­ ter) is the site of ACRL’s “All-Conference Recep­ Davidson College's E. H. Little Library. Photo credit: By permission of Davidson College.tio n ” (Saturday, April 12, 8:00-10:00 p.m.). Your conference badge will allow admission to b o th the ACRL recep­ tion at the library and an ACRL private view­ ing of the renow ned Museum o f the New South (w hich is adjacent to the library). The following are thum bnail sketches o f several Charlotte-area colleges an d universi­ ties an d their libraries (presented in alphabeti­ cal order) that you will find w ell w orth your time during the conference.1 • D a v id so n C o lleg e (209 Ridge Road, Davidson, North Carolina, 20 miles north of Char­ lotte). 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 nam ed for the Revolutionary War G eneral William Lee Davidson w ho died at th e n e a rb y Battle o f Cowans Ford. The college serves ap p ro x im ately 1,650 stu d e n ts o n cam p u s a n d is a ls o w e ll k n o w n for its active s t u d y - a b r o a d p r o ­ g ra m . N o ta b le D a ­ v i d s o n a lu m n i i n ­ c l u d e f o r m e r U .S. P re s id e n t W o o d ro w W ilson, fo rm e r U.S. Secretary o f State D ean Rusk, novelists Will­ iam Styron and Patricia Cornwell, and three N o rth C a ro lin a g o v e rn o r s . In a d d itio n , Davidson claims 23 Rhodes Scholars. In the m idst o f a $250-million building campaign, A b o u t the au th o r Barbara Tierney is associate professor and librarian at the J. Murrey Atkins Library, University o f North Carolina a t Charlotte; e-mail: bgtierne@email. uncc.edu http://www.ala.org/acrl/ C&RL News ■ February 2003 / 81 Davidson was recently ranked ninth in the cat­ egory of national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News an d Wo lrd Re port. Davidson’s E. H. Little Library, constructed in 1974, has 500,000 volumes and 200,000 gov­ ernment documents. A state-of-the-art electronic classroom was recently completed and a new mu­ sic 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 bud­ get. (http://www.davidson.edu/adu/Tdnistrative/ library/little.htm) • Jo h n s o n C. Smith U niversity (100 Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte, 1.5 miles from Up­ town 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 Endow­ ment, Smith University’s James B. Duke Memo­ rial Library was recenüy totally renovated, recon­ structed, and reopened in September 1999- This 56,500-square-foot, 430-seat library has a mod­ em architectural design that incorporates state- of-the-art technology, a user-friendly layout ‚ ex­ pansion flexibility, and natural light. The library includes an archives and research center, a cur­ riculum 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 periodi­ cal 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 pro­ gram development by increasing demand for li­ brary services. Currently the library provides in­ formation literacy skills training for all students. ( http://www.jcsu.edu/fstaff/academicaffair/ library.htm) • P u b lic L ib ra ry o f C h a rlo tte an d M ecklenburg County (310 N. Tryon Street, Uptown Charlotte). The Public Library of Char­ lotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) was named “National Library of the Year” in 1995 by L ib rary J o u r n a l 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 Com­ munication Center” is a state-of-the-art technol­ ogy center that offers video editing, a digital dark­ room, a musical composition laboratory, and in­ novative 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 Th e P u b lic L ib ra ry o f C h a r lo tte 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. than 500 staff members. It offers more than 300 systemwide public computers and access to an award-winning family o f Web sites for children and adults. 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 institu­ tion founded in 1857 and affiliated with the Pres­ byterian Church. It serves approximately 750 undergraduate students and 500 graduate stu­ dents. Notable alumni include Newbery Award winning author Betsy Byars, former First Lady http://www.davidson.edu/adiTdnistrative/ http://www.jcsu.edu/fstaff/academicaffair/ 82 / C&RL News ■ February 2003 o f North Carolina Dottie Martin, and the Mayor o f Orlando, Florida, Glenda Hood. Built in 1960, Everett Library houses a col­ lection o f 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 ac­ cess to the book collections, flexibility in shelv­ ing 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 Ar­ chives. The Rena Chambers Harrell Spe­ cial Collections Room contains collections on Charlotte history, publications bearing Charlotte imprints, Queens University his­ tory, Queens faculty publications, and pub­ lications on the art o f the bookm aker. Everett Library supports the Charlotte sat­ ellite campus o f the Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. • U n iv e r s ity o f N o r th C a r o lin a - C harlotte (9201 University City Blvd., Char­ lotte, eight miles northeast of Uptown Char­ lotte). Founded in 1946, UNC Charlotte is a publicly funded institution that is part o f the University of North Carolina State University System. UNC Charlotte currently serves ap­ proximately 15,400 undergraduate students and 3,500 graduate students. The UNC Charlotte campus is located in a suburban area eight miles northeast of the cen­ ter o f Charlotte. The campus encompasses 1,000 acres of rolling hills, forests, streams, and ponds and includes the renow ned VanLandingham Gardens and McMillan Green­ house. Adjacent to the campus is University City— a planned community comprised of University Research Park, University Hospi­ tal, and the University Place Shopping district. One o f the most prominent current initia­ tives at UNC Charlotte is its development as a top-tier research institution. One example of this research initiative is UNC Charlotte’s De­ cem ber 2000 inauguration of the Charlotte Institute for Technology Innovation, which fosters cutting-edge research in the areas o f optoelectronics and optical communications, precision metrology and intelligent manufac­ turing, 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 Char­ lotte is currently developing and refining its collections to support the university’s empha­ sis on research and technology. In 2001, Atkins Library was named a doctoral intensive insti­ tution and also became a member of the As­ sociation of Southeastern Research Libraries. A $22.8-million, four-year expansion/renova- tion 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 work­ stations, and 1,200 data connections. The re­ cently completed first floor Information Com­ mons is expansive and filled with natural light provided by a centrally located three-story atrium. Ten stories high, Atkins is now the largest li­ brary in the North Carolina Piedmont Region. Housing nearly a million volumes and provid­ ing 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 edu­ cational materials produced by NASA. A team of 30 librarians and 70 staff members provide service to both university and community patrons. C&RL News ■ February 2003 / 83 N o rth C a r o lin a " R e s e a rc h T r ia n g le " u n iv e r s it ie s a n d t h e ir lib r a r ie s A two-and-one-half hour northeasterly drive will take you to North Carolina’s “Research Triangle” which is home to: • Duke U n iversity (Durham, 142 miles from Charlotte) http://www.lib.duke.edu/ • N orth C aro lin a C en tral U n iversity (Durham, 145 miles from Charlotte) http:// www.nccu.edu/library/shepard.html • N orth C arolina State U niversity (Ra­ leigh, 163 miles from Charlotte) http://www. lib.ncsu.edu/ • U n iv e r s ity o f N o r th C a r o l i n a , C h ap el Hill (Chapel Hill, 145 miles from Charlotte) http://www.lib.unc.edu/ O th e r s e le c t e d N o rth C a r o lin a u n iv e r s it ie s a n d t h e ir lib r a r ie s • A p p a l a c h i a n S ta te U n i v e r s i t y (B oone, 104 miles from Charlotte) http:// www.library.appstate.edu/ • E lon U niversity (Elon, 108 miles from Charlotte) http://zeus.elon.edu/library/ • Wake F o re st U niversity (Winston-Sa­ lem, 84 miles from Charlotte) http://www. wfu.edu/Library/ S e le c t e d S o u t h C a r o lin a u n iv e r s it ie s a n d t h e ir lib r a r ie s • Clemson University (Clemson, 134 miles from Charlotte) http://www.lib.clemson.edu/ • F u rm a n U n iv ersity (Greenville, 110 miles from Charlotte) http://library.furman. edu/ • U n iv ersity o f South C aro lin a (Co­ lumbia, 94 miles from Charlotte) http:// www.sc.edu/library/ • W inthrop University (Rock Hill, 24 miles from Charlotte) http://www.winthrop.edu/ N ote 1. Note of appreciation to the following per­ sons for information and photographs included in this article: Davidson College: Leland Park, li­ brary director, and Bill Gìduz, director of media relations; Johnson C. Smith University: Inja Hong, university librarian, and Brenda Murray, adminis­ trative 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 li­ brarian. ■ http://www.lib.duke.edu/ http://www.nccu.edu/library/shepard.html http://www http://www.lib.unc.edu/ http://www.library.appstate.edu/ http://zeus.elon.edu/library/ http://www http://www.lib.clemson.edu/ http://library.furman http://www.sc.edu/library/ http://www.wintliiop.edu/