CONTACT: Frances O’Brien, Dean, WVU Libraries, 304-293-4040

A student takes a break from reading to gaze out a picturesque, curved glass facade at a busy University Avenue, shade trees swaying in the breeze and the Morgantown skyline beyond.

Nearby, another student types quietly on a laptop computer.

A few feet away yet another student searches for a book among the many shelves while a fourth studies in a computer-equipped carrel.

Welcome to the library of the future under construction at West Virginia University: a five-story, 124,000-square-foot brick building that will integrate four branch libraries under one roof and meet the technological needs of the 21st century.

The new library sits in front of the Charles C. Wise Jr. Library on WVU’s Downtown Campus; a glass-encased atrium with a skylight joins the two buildings.

Plans call for completing the structure late this semester. Wise Library employees will then begin moving into the new facility, and workers will commence with a one-year renovation of Wise. The cost of both the new construction and renovations is $36 million.

“Libraries across the country are reinventing themselves,” said Dean Frances O’Brien. “Our primary role remains that of a cultural repository for knowledge in books, journals and reference materials, but our means of making these materials available is changing thanks to the Internet. The new facility at WVU is at the forefront of this transformation – the library as both a quiet place to read and study and an on-line resource.

“Wise Library, WVU’s main library, was built in 1931 when we had 3,500 students and a collection of 300,000 volumes,” O’Brien added. “Today, 10 libraries around campus provide 22,000 students with access to more than 1.4 million volumes. Wise has served WVU well, but providing for the needs of a new generation of students raised on technology demands that we upgrade our facilities.”

The new library will feature a primary service floor, complete with a circulation desk and reference materials; one floor for periodicals; two floors of stacks that will hold 348,000 books; and a multimedia floor that will house government documents, electronic classrooms, and rooms for viewing videos or holding teleconferences. Technology available to library users will include 180 computers, 35 media-equipped workstations and 32 wireless laptops.

The top two floors with the stacks exemplify the project=s overall goal of combining the traditional use of a library with technological changes. The bookshelves will occupy the center of the floors. About them will be reading tables with outlets for laptop computers, carrels with desktop computers, group study rooms and lounge seating. The two floors will also offer a spacious view of the Downtown Campus and Morgantown’s waterfront.

Nowhere will the library’s technology capabilities be more apparent than on the multimedia floor. There will be group study rooms with a 42-inch high-definition television screen, keyboard and Internet connections to allow users to participate in e-conferences, view films and prepare presentations. Internet and cable connections on this floor will enable the library to deliver live video, network news and digitized video archives through its web site.

“It’s a quantum leap from anything we’ve ever done before,” said Dennis Newborn, head of library systems.

Structurally, the new building will have a lot of glass on the facade and back, a restored Scholar’s Wall outside the main entrance and a lobby made possible by a $250,000 gift from the WVU Alumni Association. A wheelchair ramp and three elevators will make the facility accessible to the handicapped.

Wise Library, meanwhile, will be restored as a quasi-cultural center, with space set aside for the West Virginia and Regional History Collection and WVU’s art collections. The facility — which will retain its original limestone facade — will also house general book collections, “wired” reading rooms and offices.

The downtown library complex made possible by the new construction and renovations will consolidate library services now available in Wise, the Chemistry Research Building, and Colson and White halls.

In conjunction with the ongoing construction, the library is embarking on a campaign to raise funds to furnish the new and renovated facilities. Donors to the WVU Library Special Initiative will have their name linked to the furniture their gifts enable the library to purchase. Naming opportunities range from $150 for reader chairs to $5,000 for study carrels and information kiosks.

Several rooms and galleries will bear the names of people who have already made substantial gifts to the campaign. They include the James V. and Ann Pozega Milano Reading Room, named for couple who met while attending WVU more than 60 years ago; and the James A. Robinson Reading Room, named for the former president of the WVU Foundation.

The new library is one of four construction projects included in the first phase of WVU’s facilities master plan, a 10-year campus renewal program totaling more than $250 million. Other projects include a $26 million office complex the University has been leasing from the WVU Foundation since June, a $34 million Student Recreation Center that opened in July and a $43 million Life Sciences Building scheduled to open in May 2002.

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The new addition to the Wise Library is nearing its completion. Penny Pugh, head of reference and government information services, said the addition should be completed by the first day of the Spring 2002 semester. She also added that this date depends on the construction and any delays that might occur.

Photo by Ian Benson

The addition to Wise Library is nearing completion. The new section to the library is expected to open at the beginning of the spring semester.

“Any kind of major construction issue could push that date back,” Pugh said.

Pugh added that as of right now, the construction should be able to meet the target date.

“It is as close as they have been able to keep it,” Pugh said.

Carroll Wilkinson, head of access services and depository for Wise Library, said she thinks the deadline should be able to be met if things continue to go the way they are. She added that it also depends on if the furniture arrives when scheduled.

Once the new addition is opened, everything in the Wise library will be transferred into the new part.

“Everything that is in this building now, so all the books and journals, microfilms and government documents, everything, is moving into the new building,” Pugh said.

“The Physical Science Building is being closed and moved into our quarters,” Wilkinson added.

Wilkinson said that Colson Hall would also be integrated into the Wise Library. She added that students who are looking for films would come to the same place where they would come for books and journals. She said that this will be a big difference for students, and it will hopefully make things easier.

According to Pugh and Wilkinson, the new addition to the library will have lounge furniture, nice lighting and carpet. The view from the new addition extends to the river so students can enjoy the scenic view. Pugh added that there would also be lots of comfortable furniture.

According to Wilkinson, some of the staff from Colson Hall and Physical Science will be working in the new library addition once the move takes place, but there are no plans for additional staff.
She added that the stacks will only be on two floors once the new addition is completed.

She said that she isn’t worried about students having problems with it and thinks they will take to it. She also added that students who need to get to a floor that is not accessible through the new addition could take the walkway into the old building.

According to Pugh and Wilkinson, the new addition will have many features available to allow students to go off alone and not be disturbed. Wilkinson said there would be between 30 and 50 wireless laptops for checkout by students. Pugh added that there will also be more wired computers available for students to use.

Further, currently obstructed paths will be opening up soon. According to Pugh, once the new addition is completed, students won’t have to walk all the way down to University Avenue to enter White Hall.

“There will be one entrance and exit in the front of the library,” Pugh said.

Wilkinson added that there is a significant amount of yard space in front of the library and walkways will be added.

Pugh said that once the new addition is open and they begin the move into the building, the library would not close again. She said that there is a professional moving company coming in to move all of the books. Wilkinson added that she spoke with someone who worked with the company before and the person she spoke with said that they did a good job.

“The original projection for getting the collection moved was eight weeks,” Wilkinson said.

Students who want to know exactly what to expect with the Wise Library move can go to the Web site for the library and read available updates.

An “Open Letter to the WVU Community” can be read from the Web site. The letter describes the phases of the construction.

According to the letter, phase one will end with all of the materials from Wise being moved into the new building. Phase two starts with the renovation of the old Wise Library and phase three is when Wise Library renovations are completed and the entire complex is open. According to the letter, the entire complex is estimated to be completed in late fall of 2002. The construction project has a frequently asked question page about upcoming events with Wise Library.

For more information on the Wise Library and the construction, go to www.libraries.wvu.edu.

John Cuthbert, curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, joined the ranks of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, writer Denise Giardina and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gate Jr. during an Oct. 12 ceremony in Charleston.

The distinction came when the West Virginia Humanities Council presented him with the Charles H. Daughtery Award in the Humanities, the council’s highest honor. Cuthbert is the 15th West Virginian to receive the prestigious award.

Executive Director Ken Sullivan said the selection was based on Cuthbert’s contributions to the state through his duties at WVU to preserve West Virginia’s past.

“John is a one of a kind resource,” Sullivan said. “I don’t know of anyone more knowledgeable about West Virginia’s art history.”

While the Daughtery Award recognizes lifetime achievements, Sullivan credits a recent accomplishment for catching the attention of the council. He said Cuthbert earned their admiration with “Early Art and Artists in West Virginia: An Introduction and Biographical Directory,” a book penned by Cuthbert and published last fall by WVU Press.

Sullivan applauds Cuthbert for introducing West Virginians and others to a bountiful heritage few know about.

”I think he’s surprised us with the depth of West Virginia art history,” Sullivan said. “West Virginia has a rich history of folk art, but it also has a rich history in the fine arts.”

Cuthbert came to WVU in 1979 as a musicologist tasked with the responsibility of cataloging and transcribing the rich folk music collection at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection.
Over the past two decades, the job has changed and his commitment to the mission has continued to strengthen.

Cuthbert maintains a high level of enthusiasm as he works to enhance the University Libraries’ West Virginia and Regional History Collection and research the history of items added to the collection. He said he’s grateful for the opportunities he’s had to study uplifting subjects and people that belie the cultural stereotypes that have so long plagued the state.

“I look forward to playing a continuing role in bringing about a reconsideration of what West Virginia culture really is,” Cuthbert said. “To me, this award represents not only a recognition of progress made to this date but also a hearty dose of inspiration with which to forge ahead.”

Cuthbert, the author and editor of the critically acclaimed book “Early Art and Artists in West Virginia,” received the Charles H. Daugherty Award in the Humanities in Charleston.

A frequent contributor to national publications like American Music and American Art Review, Cuthbert’s other books are “David Hunter Stroher: One of the Best Draughtsmen the Country Possesses,” and “The Edden Hammons Collection.”

The Glenwood Series starts its second year at 4 p.m. Sunday at Glenwood, the historic estate on Charleston’s West Side, when John Cuthbert, author of the book “Early Art and Artists in West Virginia,” gives a lecture related to his book.

The Marshall University Graduate College Foundation sponsors the lecture. In 1978, Lucy Quarrier, the house’s last resident, gave Glenwood to the West Virginia Graduate College Foundation, which is opening the estate to the public through these programs.

Tickets to the lecture are $10, and reservations are required. Call 746-2072.

John Cuthbert, curator of the West Virginia Historical Art Collection at West Virginia University and author of “Early Art and Artists in West Virginia,” will speak at Glenwood on Sunday.

Cuthbert, curator of the West Virginia Historical Art Collection at West Virginia University, worked off and on researching his book for 17 years.

Beginning in 1983, he poked around in the records of state newspapers, stored on microfilm at WVU. He looked through census records, also available at WVU on microfilm, to find nearly forgotten people who had called themselves artists in a 19th-century census.

Cuthbert’s 301-page book, which includes more than 200 color illustrations, mingles three categories of artists: those born here, but who worked elsewhere; those born here who spent at least some of their working years here; and those who passed through, some for a decade or two, some so briefly they painted perhaps just a single canvas here.

Berkeley County native William Robinson Leigh won enduring fame as a painter of the American West and American Indian scenes, but he also painted “Potomac River, West Virginia” and “West Virginia Wood Chopper.” Leigh’s 1896 oil portrait “Sophie H. Colston” belongs to the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Blanche Lazzell, who spent most of her creative years in Provincetown, and her younger cousin Grace Martin Taylor, both of whom earned reputations for their white-line woodcuts, are represented in the book, which also takes capsule looks, with tiny illustrations, at many lesser artists.

“To me, this would be equally at home on a coffee table or a library shelf,” Cuthbert told a reporter when the book first came out last year. “You can’t find another book with this information in it.”

Remaining Glenwood Series lectures will take place Nov. 4, March 3, April 7 and May 5.

© Copyright 2001 The Charleston Gazette