Media Contact: David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425
http://lib.ncsu.edu/exhibit/malecha

The NCSU Libraries is pleased to present The Urge to Draw, the Cause to Reflect: Drawings, Sketchbooks, Provocations, an exhibit that features over a decade of work by Marvin J. Malecha, dean of the College of Design at North Carolina State University and former president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Athena's Nest for Pegasus

The exhibit explores and embodies Malecha’s fundamental premise that the act of drawing—no matter the task at hand­—can release the innate powers of our own creativity, often bringing us to a state “when clarity is vividly present and understanding seems painfully obvious. It is a moment when all of the noise of extraneous considerations falls away and purpose is immediately before you.”  The exhibit taps deep roots at NC State, an institution where mechanical crafts have always been taught, valued, and practiced as catalysts for growth and creation.

Dean Malecha has had a multi-faceted career encompassing administration, education, research, professional service, and practice as an architect. After earning a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, he was dean of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, for twelve years before coming to NC State University in 1994.

In addition to his teaching and administrative work, Malecha has written several books on design and has maintained an active involvement with architectural practice through his work on a wide variety of projects—including the new chancellor’s residence under construction on NC State’s Centennial Campus. He is an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Distinguished Professor, was awarded the prestigious AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2003, and served as President of the AIA from 2008-2009.

Ticino, near Lugano, 1998

The exhibit reflects the strategies that produced Malecha’s recent book, The Urge to Draw, the Cause to Reflect: 100 Drawings and Reflections from Many Places, Times, and Spaces (NCSU Libraries Publications in collaboration with the NC State College of Design, 2011), in which a combination of sketches, evocative quotations, and short, impromptu notes or essays intermingle to capture the creative process at work. Always working with a drawing pad close by, Malecha shows how the notepad at hand in travels ranging from Hong Kong to Minnesota is integral to his practice as an architect and educator.  Both his book and the NCSU Libraries’ exhibit ask each of us to “Draw what you see. Draw to understand.  Draw to enhance your skill of seeing.  Draw to remember. . . . It will bring you an acute understanding of who you are.”

Visitors to the exhibit will quite literally be able to follow Malecha’s advice at two kiosks that invite them to draw what they see.  Facing D. H. Hill’s Conservatory and the landscape beyond, viewers at the kiosks are encouraged to add their own creative observations and experiments to the experience of the exhibit. Both traditional sketchbook and pencil and an iPad loaded with the Brushes app so brilliantly used by fellow artists such as David Hockney or Jorge Columbo will allow visitors to draw from life or from their own imaginations—either just for fun or perhaps to reach one of those moments “when clarity is vividly present and understanding seems painfully obvious.”

“I am so proud that the NCSU Libraries has been able to display Dean Malecha’s thought- and eye-provoking project,” says Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries. “NC State excels in teaching our students to engage practical problems with a practical and inspired imagination.  Malecha shows us how to do it.   And the exhibit is not only a great entry point to scholars and the general public who aren’t yet aware of the tremendous cache of valuable architectural and design materials that the we hold in our Special Collections Research Center—its multimedia and immersive kiosks are a nice foretaste of the technology that will make our new James B. Hunt Jr. Library such a great place to showcase faculty and student work when we open it in early 2013.”  

The Urge to Draw, the Cause to Reflect will be open and free to the public in the D. H. Hill Library Exhibit Gallery during regular hours through December 31.  The exhibit was produced with generous support from the Goodnight Educational Foundation Library Endowment for Special Collections.

Media Contact: David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries, (919) 513-3425

The North Carolina State University Libraries is proud to release Red, White & Black, a new mobile web app that allows users to employ their smart phones and other mobile devices to embark on a self-guided walking tour that highlights the rich history of African Americans at NC State (www.lib.ncsu.edu/m/exhibits/redwhiteblack).

From 1939 when Ellen McGuire, a former slave who retired from NC State after working for fifty years mostly in the infirmary, to 1957 when Robert Clemons became the first African American to graduate from the university (with a professional degree in electrical engineering), to 2010 when students were confronted with racial epithets painted in the Freedom Expression Tunnel, this walking tour allows users to explore, at their own pace, spaces on NC State’s campus that have had significant impact on the lives and experiences of African American students, employees, and the larger community.

This tour integrates extensive existing digital collections from the NCSU Libraries with student research and student readings to provide access to events, images, and stories that help to tell this important history. The location-aware web app allows students to connect with university history in the places in which they learn every day, further engaging them with the people, events, and environment that have shaped their campus. Owners of devices that do not support GPS or other location-detection methods can still manually navigate through the website to enjoy a historical tour of African American history and achievement at NC State.

Red, White & Black builds on the success of the April 2011 in-person guided walking tour. A collaboration of the NCSU Libraries, the Department of History, and the African American Cultural Center, the original walk began with a discussion, led by Dr. Blair Kelley of the Department of History, focusing on the long civil rights movement in higher education.  The talk was followed by a walking tour of campus, led by Dr. Walter Jackson from the Department of History and by Ms. Toni Thorpe of the African American Cultural Center—and concluded at the African American Cultural Center where participants had an opportunity to reflect together on the university’s history. The first walk was so well received and attended that the NCSU Libraries wished to make it available on a wider and on-demand basis.

A similar in-person tour of the places on campus that have had significant impact on the lives and experiences of African American students and the community will be led by Dr. Jackson and Ms. Thorpe on November 7, 2011, beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the steps of the D. H. Hill Library. This program is free and open to the public.

According to Greg Raschke, associate director for collections and scholarly communication at the Libraries, “as the official repository for the university, the University Archives in the NCSU Libraries has mountains of incredibly interesting material about the past here at NC State.  The Red, White & Black app contains history that everyone should know, and the mobile app gives us a great new way to extend the reach of our archives and give the university community and the people of North Carolina even more value from the history that we collect for them.”

Red, White & Black is the second mobile tour of the NC State campus developed by the NCSU Libraries. WolfWalk, released in 2010, provides a comprehensive self-guided historical walk through NC State’s campus and is available as iPhone and iPad apps as a free download from the App Store.

“The NCSU Libraries embraces the role of incubating new technologies for the university and for the library community around the world,” says Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries.  “Looking forward, we see mobile technologies playing a key role in the services we offer.  WolfWalk and the new Red, White & Black app give us great experience that we’ll put to good use in the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library (www.lib.ncsu.edu/huntlibrary).”

Media Contact: David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425

Rain Garden Reading Lounge

The NCSU Libraries has launched a $10,000,000 initiative to ensure that the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library can become nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the country. Funds from the Everything you can imagine . . . and more initiative will be used to enhance its inspiring spaces, sustain the building’s excellence for the future, and supply the immersive technology that will make this signature building a competitive edge for the people of North Carolina and the students, faculty, and researchers at North Carolina State University.

Designed to be an iconic space that will say “this is NC State in the 21st century,” the Hunt Library will anchor the academic oval on Centennial Campus, bringing a heart and intellectual center to this rapidly growing research park and farsighted collaboration between the university and over sixty corporate, governmental, and institutional partners. The building’s bold design embodies a spirit of discovery and innovation that will be instrumental in creating the next several generations of technology-savvy citizens, researchers, and scholars.

The citizens of North Carolina, through funding from the North Carolina General Assembly, have enabled a magnificent building, but that building is being outfitted during an extremely demanding economic environment. Through its three funds, the Everything you can imagine . . . and more initiative will ensure that the new library can realize its vision of embodying NC State’s prowess in technology, engineering, textiles, and science and becoming a major factor in attracting and retaining the best faculty, students, and corporate partners:

• Space Enhancements for the Hunt Library

To ensure that every corner of the Hunt library can be a memorable, stunning place—environments where students and researchers are encouraged to breathe life into the aspirations of a great university.

• Technology Enhancements for the Hunt Library

To purchase the latest and most productive computing, learning, and collaboration tools that will allow students and faculty to put their talents to work, at almost any hour of any day, with the emerging large-scale display and gesture-based computing technologies that are now powering a new wave of sophistication in how we see data and create digital media.

• The Endowment for Library Learning Spaces

To allow the NCSU Libraries to continue to provide innovative spaces and tools well into the future as new game-changing technologies become available and as the Libraries envisions new types of spaces to support new learning opportunities.

The Everything you can imagine . . . and more initiative also makes available a range of naming opportunities for donors who want to honor a family member, place their company name in a high-profile space in this signature building, or ensure their legacy at NC State.

“I don’t know of another educational building in North Carolina that is in its league.  It’s going to be an iconic building, not just for NC State but for the state of North Carolina—it makes a bold statement about the excellence of NC State University,” explains Wyndham Robertson, a long time supporter of the NCSU Libraries, former editor at Time and Fortune magazines, and early contributor to the Everything you can imagine . . . and more initiative.  “And the naming opportunities for the Hunt Library spaces are just a really good value, a great opportunity to help define the face of the university in this century,” she adds.

“We’ve worked for decades to make this new library happen; the structure itself is paid for, and construction is moving toward completion. The building is bold and astounding, everything we hoped for,” says Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries. “Now we need to fill it with the technologies and spaces that will make it come alive as both a symbol and enabler of NC State’s economic and intellectual achievements. There has never been a time in our history when we have more needed the edge that our donors can give us.”

Media Contact:
David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425

Drawing on a strong legacy of using mobile devices to open up the treasures of the university’s Special Collections Research Center to the widest possible audience, the NCSU Libraries has expanded its popular WolfWalk tool and made it available as an iPad app.

Initially launched in 2010 for mobile devices, WolfWalk: A Photographic History of NC State now turns the iPad into a virtual time and space portal. The iPad version of WolfWalk makes it easy for students, alumni, and other friends of North Carolina State University to steep themselves in the school’s heritage, regardless of where they happen to be at the moment.

Earlier versions of WolfWalk capitalized on the location awareness of today’s mobile devices to allow users to give themselves a self-guided historical walk through NC State’s campus. As users stroll around the grounds, their mobile devices detect their current locations and then draw on the mountains of material in the University Archives to deliver a tour of nearby buildings and other historically interesting locations.  The new iPad version provides a deeper, more immersive experience by taking advantage of the more expansive electronic canvas provided by the iPad.

The iPad’s large, backlit screen quite literally widens (and heightens) the visual possibilities for mobile users. So WolfWalk has added two new sections—“Decades” and “Themes”—to explore over a thousand luminous photographic moments held by the University Archives in the NCSU Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center.

Decades organizes classic Wolfpack scenes by time periods, making it possible, for instance, to track the return of the thousands of veterans who entered NC State in the late 1940s or the glorious basketball eras of the 50s and 60s. Themes allows users to browse through historical photographs of student life, campus events, and Wolfpack athletics over the past 125 years.

“The University Archives and our Special Collections Research Center are two of the great treasures of NC State University,” explains Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries.  “I love the idea that now it’s even easier for NC State’s friends to use them and to enjoy these riches. And the technological adroitness we have gained by pushing our own expertise forward will be invaluable in the near future as we leverage mobile services to make the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library one of the most technologically advanced learning spaces in the country.”

The iPad version of WolfWalk is available as a free download from the App Store.

On May 24, 2011, Steven J. Bell will address how academic libraries can carve out their own “experiential brand” as featured speaker at the NCSU Libraries’ annual I. T. Littleton Seminar. Bell is Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University. The seminar will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the Assembly Room in the East Wing of D. H. Hill Library on the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh.

Bell’s talk, entitled “Fish Markets, Coffee Shops, and Hotels: Finding the Right User Experience for Your Academic Library,” will explore how other providers of essential services create memorable experiences and a culture around their brand—and what libraries can learn from them.  In his talk, Steven Bell will share his insights into how academic libraries can develop a compelling user experience based on three core themes: differentiation, loyalty, and memorableness. Part of the process is to always insist that library staffs “Start With WHY”—internalizing in all they do the library’s core beliefs that drive its reason for being.

Bell is a co-founder of the Blended Librarian’s Online Learning Community on the Learning Times Network. He blogs at The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, ACRLog, and Designing Better Libraries, a site about design thinking and library user experiences. His column “From the Bell Tower” appears weekly at Library Journal Academic Newswire. Bell is co-author of the 2007 book Academic Librarianship by Design, and has recently been elected vice president/president of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

The annual I. T. Littleton Seminar is funded by an endowment established in 1987 to explore key issues in the development of academic libraries and to honor former Library Director Littleton upon his retirement from NC State.

The Libraries welcomes your continued support of the I. T. Littleton Seminar series. If you would like to make a contribution to support future seminars, please send your check, payable to the Friends of the Library, to: Friends of the Library, NCSU Libraries, Box 7111, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7111. Please note I. T. Littleton Seminar Endowment on your check. For more information, please call (919) 515-7188.

April is National Poetry Month.  No wonder you’re feeling the need for a quick fix of the best poetry currently being written in North Carolina.  You can now scratch that itch on the NC State Poetry Contest Winners website from the NCSU Libraries.

Sponsored by the Creative Writing Program in the English Department at NC State University, the contest received nearly 500 submissions this year from every corner of the state and from over twenty college writing programs.  The poems were judged by noted poet Thomas Lux, holder of the Bourne chair in poetry at the Georgia Institute of Technology, former Guggenheim fellow, and winner of multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The NCSU Libraries site (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/events/poetry) provides audio files of the five winners reading the following poems:

• Winner of the 2011 Poetry Prize:

“Where Touching Leads Us,” by Brian Ownbey

• Honorable Mentions

“Visiting Tenakee Springs, AK,” by Sierra Golden

“Band of Aides,” by Rob Greene

• Winner of the 2011 Undergraduate Poetry Prize

“Wallet-Size Photo of the Child I Gave Up,” by Kat Reece

• The American Academy of Poets Prize (for graduate students)

“Hollow,” by Kari Smith

Media Contact:
David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425

NC State University Chancellor W. Randolph Woodson will join William C. Friday at this year’s Friends of the Library of North Carolina State University Spring Meeting in a wide-ranging discussion of what the future holds for the university.

Dr. Woodson, who joined the university in April 2010, and is currently leading a substantial strategic alignment of the school, will reflect on his first year at NC State. William Friday is one of the most important American university presidents since World War II. From 1956-1986, he was president of the UNC system, earning a reputation for his dedication to fairness and to both academic achievement and academic freedom.

At his own installation last year, Chancellor Woodson singled out William Friday as “the architect of North Carolina higher education’s strong national reputation.” A 1941 NC State grad, Friday is currently the host of UNC-TV’s longest running program North Carolina People, and probably—except perhaps for Dean Smith—the most loved person ever to walk on the UNC campus.

The program will take place April 6, at 6 p.m. at the McKimmon Center on the NC State campus. Cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres will begin at 7 p. m. Tickets are $30 for Friends members and $40 for the general public.  Please call 919-515-2841 for reservations or email friends_of_the_library@ncsu.edu.

North Carolina State University’s iconic new James B. Hunt Jr. Library will be “topped out” Thursday, January 13, 2011, in a traditional ceremony held on the university’s Centennial Campus. The event marks a major milestone in the construction of what promises to be nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the country.

“Topping out” is the customary ceremony that celebrates the completion of the frame of a new building during which the top beams are put into place at the structure’s pinnacle. The oldest known topping out dates back to the early eighth century.  As a part of the tradition, workers place a small evergreen on the building to symbolize growth and to bring good luck. In keeping with the university and construction team’s commitment to sustainability on the Hunt Library project, which is anticipated to receive a LEED Silver designation from the U.S. Green Building Council, a recycled holiday tree will top the building.

At 2 p.m. Skanska—the construction contractor for the Hunt Library—will use a large construction crane to hoist the last two beams into place. These beams, as is traditional, will be signed by key stakeholders in the project. This includes the engineers, architects, designers, and trades people who are responsible for the project, as well as Chancellor Randy Woodson and the staff of both the NCSU Libraries and the Institute of Emerging Issues, the building’s two main occupants. This ceremonial raising of the last beams is meant to honor the skill and hard work of the men and women who are constructing the building.

The new Hunt Library will anchor Centennial Campus’ academic oval with an inspiring signature space that embodies NC State’s prowess in technology, engineering, textiles, and science and that says “this is NC State in the twenty-first century.” Sitting on one of the highest physical points of campus, the building will offer stunning views of the Raleigh skyline to the east and Lake Raleigh to the south.

“The James B. Hunt Jr. Library is shaping the future for the Centennial Campus, and we are honored to be part of its creation,” says Steve Stouthamer, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska Carolinas. “By partnering with our friends at NC State once again, the Skanska team will help create a truly unique, forward-thinking, and beautiful facility that will be enjoyed both by the university’s students and the community at large for a long time to come.”

“The NCSU Libraries has a long tradition of building the learning spaces that move students to do their best work and in cultivating the technologies that encourage student learning,” noted Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries. “The ‘topping out’ ceremony is a great chance for us to thank the people on site who are making the next step in this tradition a reality.”

The topping out event is open to the public—and especially to all in the NC State community.

The Hunt Library is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Media Contact:
David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425

Basketball coaches Kellie Harper and Sidney Lowe are challenging Wolfpackers to help raise $35,000 to name a high-profile group study room in the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library in honor of student athletes at North Carolina State University. The Threes for Hunt challenge lets fans make a pledge for each three-pointer the men and women’s basketball teams score this season.

Harper and Lowe are requesting Pack supporters to anticipate the Wolfpack’s success this season—and to invest in the future of NC State students—by pledging from $.25 to $10 per three pointer towards sponsoring the Hunt group study room in honor of student athletes at the university. For a point of reference, last year’s men and women basketball squads combined for 357 three-pointers. At the end of the season, donors will receive an invoice to fulfill their pledges.

In sponsoring this innovative and fun initiative, Harper and Lowe point out that “the NCSU Libraries plays a pivotal role in the lives of our student athletes. Student athletes depend on the libraries for the resources they need to complete their course work and get a great education, which is their number-one priority. The libraries are also a boost to our recruiting efforts. We’ve made our pledge to support the effort to name a space in honor of our hard-working student athletes. Please join us and make your pledge today.”

The Hunt Library, currently under construction, will be a signature building that will serve as the intellectual and social heart of the rapidly growing population on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Designed to immerse students in the latest technologies and a bold, iconic architecture, the Hunt Library is expected to be nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the country. The group study room championed by Harper and Lowe will be a signature place that will provide a permanent and very public “thanks” to the efforts of Wolfpack student athletes.

Threes for Hunt is a complement to the Touchdowns for Hunt campaign, sponsored last year by Coach Tom O’Brien. Touchdowns for Hunt raised funds to name the study room by letting fans predict how many trips to the end zone the NC State football team would make this season.

NC State fans can pledge to name the new Hunt group study room and to honor the academic work of Wolfpack student athletes here.

Media Contact:
David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425

A little more than four months after it officially went public, the newly redesigned website for the North Carolina State University Libraries has been honored by the library world’s premier professional organization as a cutting edge service that can and should be replicated by libraries across the nation. The Office of Information Technology Policy of the American Library Association presents its Cutting Edge Technology Service Award annually to libraries that are serving their communities with novel and innovative methods.  The NCSU Libraries was the only academic library in the country to be honored with a 2011 award.

In 2010, the NCSU Libraries thoroughly rethought its website always keeping in mind two key principles:  1) we would militantly craft the new site based on the user-centered design practices that have long been a rigorous practice of the best commercial sites; and 2) we would take very seriously the fact that today’s students and faculty live comfortably in a blended world where the distinction between physical space and virtual space is fluid.

The result has been a substantial increase in the use of an already busy site, the unleashing of the potential of the site’s distinctive search engine, enabling discovery and use of our strong research collections, and a solid increase in use of the portfolio of digital library services at the university. Since launch at the beginning of the fall 2010 semester, average searches per day are up 56% and average clicks have climbed 79% (compared to fall 2009).

“The NCSU Libraries long ago committed to being a technology incubator both for NC State and for our profession in general,” says Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries.  “The website is our digital front door to all we have to offer, a critical part of how we serve today’s mobile, dispersed, and very engaged students and researchers. I’m so pleased that our web team has received an honor for work that was so expertly conceived and so well implemented.”

Last year the NCSU Libraries won a 2010 ALA Cutting Edge Service Award for its Library Course Tools project. This service automates the creation of an individual web guide on how to approach research tasks for every one of the over 6000 courses taught at NC State University.