Cramped
Fine Arts Library will move to Architecture
By Carolyn
Gonzales
The
Fine Arts Library (FAL), located in the Center for the Arts,
has been bursting at the seams for years. The library
had become so crowded that in order to add a volume, we had
to pull a volume, says Fran Wilkinson, acting dean of
the UNM General Library.
Now the library is getting a new home within the new School
of Architecture and Planning.
Currently
occupying approximately 13,000 sq. ft., the library will expand
into 26,000 sq. ft. in the new facility; almost double its current
size.
The
space needs were so acute that that all the deans involved
Architecture, Fine Arts and Library decided that this
was the best idea, Roger Lujan, director of UNM Facilities
Planning, says.
Although the design that architect Antoine Predock created for
the new School of Architecture and Planning did not include
plans for the library, it can be accommodated.
The
original footprint or design can support the additional 26,000
square feet that will be added as an additional floor, partially
subterranean, but with access to natural light. Primarily the
subterranean areas will accommodate compact shelving,
Lujan says.
He says
that Predocks office will make the design changes. Roger
Schluntz, dean of Architecture and Planning says it is too early
to tell how much change in the original design will take place,
but, he says, The principles and ideals of Predock will
extend to the design revision, as well.
Funding
for the $5.5 million project will come from a future system
revenue bond issue, says Lujan. The debt will be serviced
by the facilities fee component of student fees, he says.
FAL has
30,000 volumes stored off site. Some are in Zimmerman Library
in the Center for Southwest Research (CSWR), some in Centennial
Science and Engineering Library (CSEL), while still others are
in storage at the Elks Building. These materials will be returned
to the Fine Arts Library in the new facility, making it possible
for library users to browse the collections again.
Additionally,
the move will allow the library to provide comfortable space
for students to look at the large art books, listen to CDs and
view videos and DVDs, Wilkinson says.
Study space,
carrels computer space, small group study rooms and wireless
computer capabilities will be added too, she says.
The additional
benefit is that moving arts materials out of the other libraries
will ease space problems in those facilities. We will
work closely with the Fine Arts faculty to determine what should
be housed there. Theater, dance and film collections, currently
housed in Zimmerman, could be moved to the new library, if that
is what everyone agrees upon, Wilkinson says.
Interim
Dean of the College of Fine Arts Christopher Mead says that
Schluntz approached him about moving the library into the new
facility since the library also houses architecture, landscape
architecture, design and graphic design collections. We
went to Provost [Brian] Foster who liked the idea, and we spoke
to Fran Wilkinson. We had great cooperation with three deans
to solve a common problem, Mead says.
The
new library will be right next door, solving a severe problem
and serving the needs of the students. For me, it is less important
that the library be located in the Fine Arts building than it
is that it serves the needs of the students in a real way,
he says.
Mead says
that everyone in the Fine Arts building has ideas about how
to use the 13,000 sq. ft. vacated by the librarys move,
but it wont be decided overnight. We have two years
before the library will move. The new Fine Arts dean will have
that on his plate, Mead says.
Schluntz
says that the architecture faculty is elated at
the prospect of the library existing in their new building.
Integrating classrooms with the knowledge base that exists
in the library provides a better educational environment,
he says.
This
move responds directly and forcefully to the architecture accreditation
report that noted our lack of space for collections and users,
Schluntz says. He also says that the presence of the library
in the architecture building will encourage collaboration between
fine arts and architecture.
Will it
still be called Fine Arts Library? Schluntz would
like the name to be Fine Arts and Design Library,
but that decision hasnt been made yet and with the building
completion set for Oct. 2004, theres time to ponder.