■ JTHE PENDULUM
BelkUbrar}'
PAGE 16 // WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 10. 2010
m
CORHY GROOM (Staff Ptwtographer
r .ore tHamOyears. Bern Ubra^ has become a Home to more tban 500.000 booKa and 10.000
DVOs.
Lauren Ramsdell
Arts & Entertainment Editor
COREY GROOM | Staff Photographer
Belk Library offers Elon students a 24-hour study spot most days.
CLUB BELK
Still strong after
10 yea rs
Carol Grotnes Belk Library,
Belk or Club Belk: whatever it's
called, Elon’s library is one of the
most popular spots on campus.
For 10 years, Belk has served
graduates, undergraduates and
community members with stacks
of books, piles of DVDs and
mounds of CDs. The week of Feb.
8-13 will celebrate the 10-year
life of Elon’s academic heart.
Where other colleges have
several undergraduate libraries
and specific libraries for
graduates, Elon’s library is a
gathering space for the entire
campus.
“We want the library to be
a kind of academic student
center,” said Kate Hickey, Dean
and University Librarian. “Elon
prides itself on community.”
But, like all buildings, Belk
will need to be renovated and
updated in the near future.
Trying to squeeze into one of
the study rooms on a Sunday
afternoon is testament to how
popular, and crowded, Belk is.
In the new 10-year plan, Belk
will get an expansion of an
unknown square footage within
the next five to 10 years.
“It’s remarkable that it still
works as well as it does,” Hickey
said.
She said a lot of the success
of Belk has to do with how
much emphasis the university
places on keeping technology
updated. Every three years, Belk
gets a complete techniological
overhaul.
Technology could spell
disaster for a traditional paper-
and-binding library. Despite
the access to thousands of
e-journals and the prevalence
of the Internet as a search tool.
“Book circulation has risen
every year we’ve been in this
building,” Hickey said.
Patrick Rudd, coordinator
library access services
also points to technology as a
positive when it comes to getting
students information quickly.
“Students and faculty can
access Belk Library collections
from anywhere in the world
with the growing quantity of
material available online,” Rudd
said.
He also said that while
the library will increase its
collection of physical books, it
will also focus on expanding
the online collection.
Since its inception, Belk has
undergone only minor changes,
like the doubling of space for
the Writing Center. “It’s the
10th anniversary of something
that lasted,” Hickey said. “It was
ahead of its time.”
m
LAUREN RAMSDELL | Photographer
Belk Libary boasts more study areas and about 45,000 more
square feet than the previous library location, which now
houses the School of Communications.
The €ireat
Chain
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I . . A.- . . . COREY GROOM | Staff Photoqrapher
Belk Library has become a meeting place for students to work on projects and to browse the Internet on the lobby computers.
FIRST BOOK MOVED
MCEWN to
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COREY GROOM | Staff Photograp«
January marked 10 years of service for Belk Library. Elon
students and faculty passed the first book by hand in 2000.
Elen's Libraries:
Then and now
Belk was built after McEwen library
grew too cramped for the burgeoning
student body. McEwen became
the School of Communications and
Belk improved on the old library in
technology, capacity and staffing.
Belk Library
-Built in 2000
'■8,200+ e-journals
-21 group study rooms
-75,000 square feet of space
-148 computers
-210,000 book capacity, and
more off-site
-37 staff members
McEwen Library
-Built in 1968
-4,500 e-journals
-10 group study rooms
-29,000 square feet of
space
-46 computers
-180,000 book capacity
-20 staff members