New Library on NC State's Centennial Campus To Be Test Bed for Latest Technologies

    RALEIGH, NC, August 05, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- NC State University library officials say they intend to transform how students learn and create in the 21st century, using the new library under construction on Centennial Campus as a test bed.

Getting a jumpstart on this transformation, the library system was recently awarded a $100,000 grant through the U.S. Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) to create a new "Technology Sandbox," where students will be about to test and use large-scale displays and gesture-based computing technologies. The testing area is under construction in the D.H. Hill Library, the main campus library. Once the 139,000-square-foot James B. Hunt, Jr. Library opens in 2012, the Sandbox will be available in that space as well.

"We plan for the Hunt Library to be nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the nation," said Susan Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU libraries. "In the two years we before the new building is completed, the Technology Sandbox will be a great incubator for us, filled with our best and brightest helping us evaluate new technologies and shape the Hunt experience. And we plan to have great fun while we are at it."

The grant will fund the purchase of an eight-foot-by-three-foot touch-screen display wall from New York-based Perceptive Pixel, which is similar to the screens currently used by CNN during its newscasts. When the Tech Sandbox opens in the fall of 2010 it will also feature two Microsoft Surface tables that allow multiple users to simultaneously move digital information and objects around the unit's tabletop by simply touching the screen.

The new technologies are expected to be used by a variety of students, including engineering, veterinary medicine and design students who could use the 3D capability of the screens.

NC State libraries have gained a reputation for innovations in technology. The Hunt Library will also feature a state-of-the-art robotic book retrieval system, which is currently being used by only a handful of libraries in the country. In addition to the basics--wireless connectivity and easy access to electrical power--the environment in Hunt Library will be permeated with virtual browsing, video-conferencing, on-line room scheduling, collaborative projection, whiteboards, video walls, and technology-enabled furniture.

The Hunt Library will anchor the Centennial Campus' academic Oval, sitting at the southwest end of the Oval overlooking Lake Raleigh. It will serve primarily engineering, textiles, and other science students. The building will also be the home of the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI), a public policy, think-and-do tank that convenes leaders from business, nonprofit organizations, government, and higher education to tackle some of the biggest issues facing North Carolina's future growth and prosperity.

"When it opens, the Hunt Library will be a tremendous resource to Centennial Campus," said Gene Pinder, director of marketing for the Centennial Campus Partnership Office. "It's really going to be a showcase for the kinds of collaboration we talk about between students, researchers, faculty and our corporate, government and non-profit partners. We can't wait for it to open."

The architect for Hunt Library is Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee Architecture (PBC+L), a North Carolina architectural firm with offices in Raleigh and Asheville. The lead designer for the project is Snohetta, an integrated landscape, interior, and architectural practice based in Norway and New York. Snohetta has won numerous international awards, including the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award, Europe's most prized award for architectural excellence. Snohetta was recently ranked 15th in the world in architectural practices.

Centennial Campus is a 1,314-acre research park and campus owned and operated by NC State University and located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Home to more than 60 corporate, government and non-profit partners, the campus is also home to about 2,500 employees, 1,300 faculty and researchers, and more than 3,500 students during the academic calendar year. Four colleges of the university have a significant presence on Centennial Campus, including the College of Engineering, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Textiles and the College of Education. The Graduate School is also located on campus. Established in 1984, Centennial Campus is one of the oldest university-owned research parks in the U.S.

NC State is the largest four-year institution in North Carolina, with more than 31,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff. The university's research expenditures are approaching more than $325 million annually, with almost 70 percent of faculty engaged in sponsored research and 2,500 graduate students supported by research grants. NC State is ranked third among all public universities (without medical schools) in industry-sponsored research expenditures.

Website: http://www.centennial.ncsu.edu

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