NEWS

CHAPEL HILL -- The roots of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Health Sciences Library stretch back to 1801 with the donation of the first medical books to the university. Today the library serves up World Wide Web resources, CD-ROMs and an online catalog.

Within a few years, with the help of a $6-million fund-raising campaign, the Health Sciences Library will deliver the latest health research to patient bedsides and physician offices across the state. Private donors are being asked to contribute $1 million; the remaining $5 million is being sought from the state.

To put information at the fingertips of people who need it, the library will renovate and rewire its building to bring it into the information age. Renovations will create better space for patron services and high-tech information tools, said Carol Jenkins, director. Service capacity will be improved for those who study under the library’s roof as well as users logging on from around the world.

"Reconfiguring the present library will be cheaper and faster than building a new building," said Don Knight, a retired Glaxo Wellcome vice president from Raleigh and chair of the library’s campaign. "We will make the library an information hub, with spokes reaching literally to every patient’s bedside, to doctors’ offices, Area Health Education Centers, lab benches and students’ laptop computers."

Joining Knight on the campaign committee are a former UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor, a former dean of the medical school, and physicians, faculty members and business leaders.

Cline Davis PA, a Raleigh architectural firm, will design the renovation, thanks to $400,000 in planning funds appropriated by the N.C. General Assembly. About half of the $1 million goal for private gifts has been raised, Jenkins said.

"Funds for the extra measure of excellence that sets the Health Sciences Library apart will come from private sources," she said.

The work will begin in about two years. Renovations will include rewiring the building for high-volume computer use, installing teleconferencing facilities, creating small-group workspaces and installing space-saving shelves.

"There are physical limitations to our building which must be overcome," Jenkins said. "To make room for these new service areas, we will install compact, space-saving shelving in order to keep our extensive print collection within easy reach."

The library serves students and faculty in the schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health and staff at UNC Hospitals, as well as health providers across North Carolina. It contains 310,000 volumes, 5,000 audiovisual and computer programs, and 4,000 current serial titles.

One indication of the library’s electronic reach is the 114-percent increase in searches conducted on its University of North Carolina Literature Exchange (UNCLE) digital library over the past two years. UNCLE contains 780 electronic resources, including the full texts of 140 journals. More than 300,000 UNCLE searches were conducted last year, a 52-percent increase over the previous year, while the number of print items circulated over the counter remains steady at roughly 45,000 per year.

The library serves a growing number of distance learners including those enrolled in Area Health Education Center programs, students in continuing education programs, public and community college librarians, small-town pharmacists, biomedical researchers, hospital administrators, county health officials, physicians, physical therapists, undergraduates and high school students. More than 3,000 students participated in 200 on-line classes offered by the library in the first five months of this year.

"No institution in the state is better positioned to be a health knowledge source of tomorrow than UNC’s Health Sciences Library," Knight said.

Founded in 1952, the library moved into its present building on Columbia Street in 1970. Three stories were added in 1980.

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Fund-raising contact: Susan Brumley, director of development, 919-966-0944