William T. Young Library (University of Kentucky)
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The William T. Young Library, located on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, is named for William T. Young, a prominent local businessman, horse breeder, philanthropist and alumnus of the university, who began fundraising efforts with a donation of $5 million. The facility serves as a central library for the university's social sciences, humanities and life sciences collections and acts as a United States federal repository and a public library for the state of Kentucky.
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[edit] History
The history of the library dates back to the mid-1970s, when then University President Otis A. Singletary and successor David Roselle, urged the state of Kentucky to fund a research library yearly between 1975 and 1989 [1]. This came after an addition to the Margaret I. King Library was completed, however, funding for the new library never materialized due to budget cuts from the state.
In 1990, then-President Charles Wethington pledged to the faculty and students that building a new library would be "top priority." He was met with much resistance from state leaders, however, the University initiated a massive fund-raising campaign 1991. The top donor who kickstarted the project was Lexington businessman and horse breeder William T. Young who gave $5 million; the University would later raise $21.5 million [2].
In 1992, the University received state approval to spend $12 million on design and site preparation, however, the General Assembly in 1994 did not approve of the capital project. In order to start the project, Whetington established an unusual funding method: the city of Lexington would sell $41 million in bonds, the proceeds which went to the University of Kentucky Alumni Association and Athletic Association, a semi-independent organization that would become the owner and builder of the library. The annual debt service on the library bonds is currently being paid from $3.2 million it receives annually from the Athletics Association.
In 1994, construction began on the new library, which was named after William T. Young who was the first large donor to the project. The site's location was a "high spot between two sinkholes," which required the burying of 202 steel-reinforced concrete caissons into the soil to prevent the structure from sinking or tilting.
The library was dedicated on April 3, 1998 at a cost of $58 million and was the largest University project ever constructed [2]. The deed at the ceremony was handed over from the Alumni Association to the University.
[edit] Moving
Moving the books from the former Margaret I. King Library to the new William T. Young Library was not an easy task. If stretched out from end-to-end, the amount of books in the old library would snake from Lexington to Richmond [3]. The University hired William B. Meyer, part of United Van Lines, to move 1.2 million volumes from four locations. The move took eight weeks to complete beginning on May 11, 1998 at a cost of $500,000; 74 part-time laborers were involved at a cost of 34,560 person-hours. During this time, all books were kept in circulation and if a student were to request a volume, it would be accessible "within twenty-four hours." Adding onto the complications was the fact that 700,000 of the existing volumes had to be converted from the antiquated Dewey decimal system to that of the Library of Congress.
[edit] Features
[edit] Exterior
The library was designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Inc. of Boston, in association with Nolan and Nolan, Louisville, and the construction cost was $58 million. It's exterior features a unique octagonal shape, two-story brick-and-stone arcades on each facade and two-story windows.
[edit] Interior
The six-story library contains over 1.2 million volumes and can seat over 4,000 patrons [4]; 3,000 of these seats are in open-floor plan regions, with the remainder located in group study rooms. Each seat is equipped or is adjacent to a computer data jack [5]. Initially, there were 600 desktop computers available, three times as many as was in the former Margaret I. King Library, and 40 laptop computers, half of which were wireless utilizing cellular phone access cards.
When it was constructed, it was the only library in the country to house all of its volumes on mobile compact shelves [6] which are controlled by the push of a button. This innovative method of storing thousands of books in a relatively small amount of space freed room for work spaces, study halls and reading rooms.
The interior also features Treuchtlingen marble mined from southern Germany in the lobby. The layout of the inside is reminiscent of a "building within a building" concept [6], with a center atrium that houses the administration area on the first floor and reading rooms on the second and fourth floors. The rotunda is surrounded by skylights that give natural light into the central atrium, and features a chandelier that weighs 3,700 pounds. The 350,000 sq. ft. (~32,500 sq. m.) building has six elevators and all floors are fully handicap accessible.
A 150-seat auditorium is located at the University Drive entrance and Ovid's Cafe is located on the east wing of the building.
The library is second only to Harvard in the size of its book endowment ($56 million as of 2000) and first among public universities [4].
[edit] References
- ^ Jester, Art and Holly E. Stepp. "Planning took almost 50 years." 22 March 1998 Herald-Leader [Lexington]. 18 Dec. 2006.
- ^ a b Jester, Art and Holly E. Stepp. "Hub of the University." 22 March 1998 Herald-Leader [Lexington]. 18 Dec. 2006.
- ^ Poore, Chris. "How to move a million books." 22 March 1998 Herald-Leader [Lexington]. 18 Dec. 2006.
- ^ a b "Stats At A Glance." University of Kentucky. 17 Oct. 2005. University of Kentucky. 7 Sept. 2006 [1].
- ^ Poore, Chris. "Moving ahead with technology." 22 March 1998 Herald-Leader [Lexington]. 18 Dec. 2006.
- ^ a b Stepp, Holly E. "A beacon on campus." 22 March 1998 Herald-Leader [Lexington]. 18 Dec. 2006.
