January 12, 2009
Revamped library welcomes Clark University students back from break
New Academic Commons offers cutting-edge facilities -- and coffee, too
Clark University's new Academic Commons at Goddard Library will officially open on Monday, Jan. 12. Students returning to campus for spring semester classes will be welcomed to a warm, bright new space for scholarly pursuits -- complete with a cafe.
Extensive renovations of the University's main Robert H. Goddard Library have created a cutting-edge facility offering centralized academic and research support services for the entire campus community. The Academic Commons project included redesign of existing space and the addition of 11,000 square feet achieved by enclosing the plaza level. Included in the new plaza-level expansion are the University's main computer lab and late-night study rooms, the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, and Jazzman's Café. The project also has re-oriented the library entrance to the center of campus, opening to the campus green.
"The new Academic Commons here will be the ideal place for students and faculty to build our community of 21st-century scholars," says Gwen Arthur, Clark University Librarian. "Moreover, the redesign resonates with the building's Brutalist architectural design. The library will continue to serve as a dynamic monument to Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the father of modern space rocketry and the University's most famous alumnus and professor."
Flexible group study spaces, technology-rich workstations and multi-media areas support the new role of the University library as not only a resource repository, but a place that inspires and nurtures collaboration and partnership between and among students and faculty. Such research spaces are critical to Clark's commitment to an educational experience in which students learn through inquiry, pursuing hands-on research to seek solutions to real-world problems.
The Academic Commons will continue to provide traditional and electronic resources, including the library's collection of more than 600,000 volumes and subscriptions to 1,500 periodicals, full Internet access, over 50 databases, and public, online catalog available 24-hours a day. The Academic Commons will also continue to house an Archives and Special Collection area.
The Academic Commons at Goddard Library was designed by Steven M. Foote, of Perry Dean Rogers Partners Architects, Boston, and built by Consigli Construction Co., Inc., of Milford. Groundbreaking was in May 2008 and the project is opening ahead of schedule.
For more information, visit http://www.clarku.edu/research/goddard/.