Library Reorientation for Second-Year Architects 2006 Martin Aurand Architecture Librarian

Andrew Carnegie founded Carnegie Tech in 1900, and architect Henry Hornbostel designed the campus beginning in 1904.

The Carnegie Tech Campus was modeled in many respects after Thomas Jefferson’s design for the University of Virginia. But while Jefferson’s climactic building was the campus library, Carnegie Tech’s was the power plant with a smokestack.

Carnegie thought libraries were very important, and used his fortune to support hundreds of libraries throughout the country, including a large public library just down the street from Carnegie Tech. He figured that the Carnegie Tech students could go there.

This never worked very well, however, so small libraries sprung up on the Carnegie Tech campus, including one in the College of Fine Arts. This room now houses the Studio for Creative Inquiry.

When Carnegie Tech and the Mellon Institute for Industrial Research merged in 1967, the new Carnegie Mellon University inherited a library in the Mellon Institute building. This facility still houses a biology and chemistry library.

When Wean Hall was built in 1972, it included an Engineering and Science Library. Collections cover topics including engineering, construction, building materials, computer-aided design, etc.

Meanwhile, a central arts, humanities, and social sciences library was built near the center of the campus in

Hunt Library was named after donor Roy A. Hunt, an important figure in the aluminum industry. Aluminum was used wherever possible in the building. Students said that the aluminum fins made the library look like a radiator.

Hunt Library’s generating idea is the book stack. The module of the book stack determines most of the building’s dimensions and spatial configurations.

books

Use Cameo, the Carnegie Mellon Libraries catalog, to find books in our collections.

Books are shelved by subject using a unique number generated by the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

Quarto OVRSZQ Folio or Elephant Folio FOLIOS Octavo STACKS Books are also shelved by size.

To find a book you need to know its library, its location (which is often related to size and the floor that it is on), and its call number. HUNT OVRSZQ L7232

articles

Use databases to find articles in periodicals.

The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals is a subscription only database that identifies the articles published in hundreds of architecture periodicals

Avery Index: Advanced Search

reference resources

A Carnegie Mellon Libraries subscription provides access to this online encyclopedia of the arts (including historic architecture).

A Carnegie Mellon Libraries subscription provides enhanced access to this web site about environmentally responsible building.

digital images / slides

ARTstor: A Digital Image Library covering art, architecture, and archaeology, including Hartill Archive of Architecture and Allied Art and Museum of Modern Art Architecture and Design Collection

archives

Deep Web vs. Free Web

> 1 million books > 50,000 arts related books ~ 20,000 architecture books 100s subscriptions to online databases 1000s subscriptions to periodicals in paper and online ~ 100 subscriptions to architecture periodicals ~ 110,000 slides and digital images ~ 20,000 architectural drawings + other archival records access to millions of other items via Interlibrary Loan 1 Architecture Research Guide 1 architecture librarian Why only use?

Langston Hughes Library

Now in its fifth year, projet MOBILIVRE- BOOKMOBILE project is an annual touring exhibition of artist books, zines, and independent publications. Traveling by way of a vintage Airstream, the BOOKMOBILE visits a variety of venues in Canada and the US including community centers, schools, libraries, festivals and artist-run centers. A group of coordinators traveling with the exhibition facilitate a series of workshops, artist talks, and educational forums. The project has exposed thousands of visitors to a unique collection of independently produced book works.

In a celebration of the Public Domain, the Internet Archive's Bookmobile will be coming to a town near you, bringing with it the ability to access, download, and print one of the almost 20,000 public domain books currently available online.

Libraries are changing and dynamic places. As our communities grow and change, so do our libraries. Large and small cities around the country have passed referenda in the last decade to build new central libraries and branches to accommodate growth and technological change. Public libraries are partners for vibrant and educated communities. Three broad themes can be found in many of the new public library building projects: more technology, including computer centers and accommodations for wireless access; more community and performance spaces, including auditoriums and meeting rooms; and more vibrant and comfortable spaces, including teen areas and coffee bars. Part of the vision for any new central library building is to make it something of a “destination” for library users—families, students, new immigrants, senior citizens and more.

Americans visit libraries more than 1.2 billion times each year, and this number continues to rise. A 2002 American Library Association survey also found that library use rises during tough economic times. Users turn to their libraries for free books, to borrow DVDs, to learn new computer skills, to conduct job searches and more. Libraries across the country have seen demographic changes in the past 10 years and are working to meet the changing needs of their users, including adding bilingual librarians, building collections, expanding outreach services and increasing programming. Unfortunately, many public libraries also are working with tight budgets and growing recruitment needs. Many new libraries also are challenging people’s ideas as a stuffy, slightly musty place. Cutting-edge architecture, innovative design and reinvention are bringing more light, more beauty and more personality to America’s libraries.