Welcome back, Wolfpack.  We have something new in store for returning and first-year students alike.

And yes, we’re still crowded.  And will be as long as students keep flocking here to work.  And until the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library opens in fall, 2012.

In the meantime, this summer we’ve been able to add some great new spaces that you’ll want to check out in D. H. Hill:

The Silent Reading Room

There are silent spaces all over the library, especially in the stacks, but the favorite one downstairs–the Special Collections Reading Room–fills up quickly as the semester gains momentum.  So we have closed off a great light-filled space across from the Creamery, outfitted it with almost 70 comfortable Herman Miller SAYL chairs and some solid tables, and designated it a quiet space for individual work.  The tons of power outlets are nice, but don’t forget to look up occasionally from the computer—the huge glass wall down the room’s south side gives a great view of the Brickyard.

The Terrace

Look through those glass windows and you’ll now see umbrellas. And another great place to get the work done.

Back in the day (say 1954!), the West Wing of D. H. Hill was part of the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Center, which sported a great outdoor terrace where dances often spread out into the night air.  Now it’s yours, with 54 seats at tables and some very interesting lounging chairs.  Again, there are power outlets around the entire space (including in the railing), but we think the main draw is the view, the sun, and a chance to get outside and work a bit away from the Hill hive.

New technology-enabled study rooms

Group study spaces have always been a rare prize at Hill, but now thirteen newly renovated study rooms, including six additional ones, are making your chances much better when you’re looking for a quiet place to hammer out the work with friends.

On floors 3 through 8, the large study rooms just as you exit the elevators in the south tower book stacks have been divided in half, outfitted with new plug-and-play furniture that makes it easy to share and display your group work, and geared up with electronic sound dampening that wraps your group in a cocoon of quiet.  One entire writeable wall in each of the twelve rooms is also available to work out problems, outline your project—or just to doodle on to relieve a little stress.

The large group study room just off the elevator on the second floor has also been redone with the same great new furniture and technology.

All these rooms can be reserved at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/studyrooms/getaroom.php.

D. H. Hill’s new “living room”

Speaking of cocoons, you also need to check out the library’s new “living room.”  On the second floor of the West Wing (up the large steps just past the Creamery), you’ll find sofas, eye (and foot)-pleasing rugs, the most comfortable loungers on campus, a great view of Hillsborough Street—and a quiet place to retreat when the hours with the books and laptop get long. This may be the most pleasing space in the library (well, except for maybe that great view from the Conservatory Astral Bench).   Eight new tables and chair sets in this quiet area add some more much-needed quiet study space in D. H. Hill.

What do you think?

As we’re spruced up D. H. Hill this summer, we’re experimenting with the new spaces to try out new types of furniture and technology that we may be using in the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library when it opens in the fall of 2012.  We’d love it if you’d leave us any comments you have about the furniture and technology on our Facebook page.