The Light at the End of the Tunnel

The Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Library is now connected to the Science Building!

An external view of the new link

An interior view from the Library toward the Science Building.

Looking toward the Library entrance.

This makes it possible to travel from the Science Building, through the Library, into the Learning Resource (R) Building, Classroom (C) Building, and all the way to the Administration Building without going outside.  As winter sets in, we expect to see it getting LOTS of use!

Fall progress

The tunnel continues to take shape.

Exiting the Library building.

The entrance to the Science building.

Another view of the connection to the Science building, showing the exit to the outside and the beams along the length of the tunnel.

Taking Shape

The latest update from the "connector" project:

The first concrete has been poured.

If you use your imagination, you can "see" the path from the parking lot to the exterior entrance! 

Another Summer, Another Construction Project

The Corridor Gallery connects the Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Library to the Learning Resources building, the Classroom building and the Administration building.  For years, students have asked when the Library will be connected to the Science Building and the other side of campus.  Well, ask no more!  By the fall of 2015, an enclosed walkway will connect the lower level of the Library to the lower level of the Science building.  Here is the progress so far:

Connection at the lower level of the Library...

...the walkway's path...

...ending at the lower level entrance to the Science building.

We will follow this project here on the blog just as we did last year - stay tuned for more updates!

Our new Learning Commons spaces

Now that we've looked at the building addition and located the library Info Desk, let's turn our attention to the Learning Commons.  It is located to your left as you are facing Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.'s portrait.

There is a sign-in computer here - please sign in if you need to meet with a tutor!  However, you are welcome to use the space for unassisted studying and work, as well.

Looking toward the back of the building.  On the left side of the picture you might be able to see the tutoring staff offices.

Looking toward the front of the building.  On the right side of the picture, toward the front of the building, there are 3 private study rooms.

It really is a complete re-imagining of our space!  The columns used to mark the central "gallery" of our building, with the spaces behind the columns on both sides closed off as study rooms, conference rooms, and offices.  You would never have been able to get the kind of view across the building that we now have when the space was laid out like this -

If you ever saw our build prior to the renovation, you might remember that there were portraits of the College presidents hanging on the brick wall to your right as you entered the building.

Since that wall is now gone, the presidents have moved to an alcove at the far end of the Learning Commons.

Presidents William Perry, Robert Frederick, and Donald Hangen.

Presidents Eduardo Marti and Floyd Amann.

 The newest addition to the presidential portrait gallery, our current President Katherine Douglas, hangs around the corner in the main gallery.  Her portrait was painted by Dustin Boutwell, a local Corning artist.

The intent is that in the future, President Douglas' portrait will be moved in next to President Amann's, and the next president will hang where hers is currently located.  

In my last post, you may have noticed another portrait hanging behind our old circulation area, near Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.'s portrait.  That is Walter Smith, a long-time member of CCC's history department and a rather legendary figure on campus.  His portrait now hangs across the hall from the Presidential Alcove, in a similar space.

One thing you'll find in our new space is study space, both private and public, in all different sizes.  And it is difficult to photograph!  In the picture above, you can see most of one of the more popular group study rooms - and there is a similar one next to the presidential portraits.  At the very end of the building is a large meeting room, identical in size and dimension to our previous "Board Room" space, but this one has a large LCD display AND projection capabilities.

Please come in!

A little over one year ago, our front entrance looked like this...

...and today!

The flags, featuring our benefactor Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., were put up for our grand opening event on April 10.  Grass is on the way, but it is only April, and the ground has been torn up for over a year, after all!

Here is the vestibule, just inside the front doors.

On the right you can see our donor wall, recognizing all the groups and individuals who made donations to the renovation campaign.  Many of the names seen here are also on spaces throughout the building, as their donations allowed them to designate a specific area or room.  Also featured on this plaque are opening lines from great works of literature.

Enter the next set of doors, and you will be in the newest library space.

Look to your right, and you will see our cafe - open Monday- Friday from 8 am to 2 pm.

To your left is our program space (denoted on posters as L102).  It can hold 50-70 people comfortably for speakers and presentations, and has a large screen and projector.  When not being used for such functions, you can find current magazines and newspapers here, as well as a great casual space to study or relax.

Continuing on, you are now entering the remodeled space.  On both sides of the gallery you can see pieces of art - we'll talk more about those in another post - and directly in front of you is a portrait of Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.

Also featured on (in!) this wall is Excalibur, a piece of Steuben crystal that is also visible in the painting (look on the table next to Mr. Houghton's right hand).

If this looks familiar, it is because Arthur has always had a place of honor on this wall.  However, our main desk used to sit between those 2 columns, like this -

Are you getting a sense of the enormity of the changes that happened around here?!?!?

Our main desk is now located to your right, at a 90-degree angle to Arthur/where the desk was before.  Staff offices are behind that and along both exterior walls.  Course reserves are on the shelves that you can see behind the desk in the picture below - ask at the desk if you are looking for a textbook.  This is also the place to get research help, check out a laptop, tablet or graphing calculator, and ask all your library-related questions!

In my next post I'll give you a tour of the Learning Commons.

The More Things Change...

Our renovation odyssey is (mostly!) complete!  Stay tuned next week for more pictures, both old and new, as we recap the project and show off our new spaces.

In the meantime, find your favorite nook and curl up with a good book...obviously a timeless pastime, as these pictures illustrate!  (And there usually ARE students sitting here - your photographer took this picture on a Friday afternoon, so as not to need signed picture release forms and all that.)

The Books Come Back

On April 23 of 2014, the physical book collection of the Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Library was packed and moved to a storage facility (click this link to read about the process).  Today, the good folks at Naglee Movers brought them back to their new home!

The books are unloaded from trucks, on carts that are still shrink-wrapped and numbered to correspond to the shelves where they belong.

Here are 2 pictures of the book carts, all lined up and ready to go into the shelving area.

One of the crew hard at work re-shelving books.  You can see the stickers on the shelves - these numbers correspond to the labels on the carts.  Because it is compact shelving, workers cannot always work in sequence, and careful numbering means that shelving can happen in different spots simultaneously.

An empty book truck exits the other side of the shelving area!

The entire collection should be back in place by early next week. However, the library itself will not re-open to the public until January 20.