NEWS

Health Sciences Library to celebrate renovations by broadcasting ‘virtual’ ceremony

By LANITA WITHERS
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Innovations have made visiting the library as easy as turning on a computer. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Health Sciences Library will fuse technology and celebration by holding a "virtual groundbreaking" to announce the library’s redesign.

The 5 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 3) ceremony to signify the start of the library’s renovation will take place on the first floor of the Health Sciences Library and will be broadcast simultaneously via streaming live video to 80 invited guests watching from the Carolina Inn.

A webcast of the ceremony will be available via RealOne Player at www.hsl.unc.edu.

"More and more patrons – doctors, students, researchers, members of the general public, to name a few – depend on the Health Sciences Library for a variety of the most up-to-date health information," said Carol Jenkins, director of the Health Sciences Library. "Back when the Health Sciences Library was built, few could have anticipated the demand for health information or our society’s level of reliance on technology.

"With our renovation, we are delighted to fully address the need for space that accommodates our growing collection and the need to use technology to the fullest extent in delivering information to our patrons."

Featured speakers for the ceremony include Jenkins, UNC Chancellor James Moeser; Dr. Leslie Alexandre, president of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; Dr. Sue Estroff, professor of medicine and chair of the faculty; and Caroline Carlson, a student in the School of Public Health.

The Health Sciences Library is one of the largest health science libraries in the country, serving students in the UNC schools of dentistry, nursing, medicine, pharmacy and public health, as well as clinical staff at UNC Hospitals and clinicians and residents across the state of North Carolina.

The Health Sciences Library also actively serves biomedical researchers throughout the Triangle and citizens statewide.

Last year, more than 320,000 patrons visited the library building and 458,000 searched for information on UNCLE, the library’s Web site of health-related journals and resources. The library’s Web site receives about 150,000 visits every month.

The renovated library will contain:

· Three times the current number of computer workstations, from 51 to 155.

· Double the number of electronic information and reference stations.

· Two media kitchens to provide new services in support of educational technology and electronic course creation.

· Five computerized group study rooms to support cutting-edge applications focusing on teaching, learning and research.

The project cost is estimated to total about $12 million, with $11 million coming from funding made possible by the passage of the 2000 higher education bond referendum and $1 million from private donations. The renovations are scheduled for completion in the spring of 2004.

The library will remain open during the renovations, although some services may be altered or discontinued.

The Health Services Library is consistently ranked among the top five health libraries in the nation according to the Association of Academic Health Science Libraries.

The library began in a small room in the School of Medicine in 1952. The library moved to its current location on Columbia Street in 1971.

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(Withers is a senior in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication from Reidsville, N.C.)

Health Sciences Library contact: Lisa Rae, (919) 966-0944

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415