Hamilton, NY – The new Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology was dedicated at Colgate University today, creating a new intellectual and social hub for the campus.
The project was designed to rejuvenate the facility and reclaim the library’s prominent place as the University’s major academic building. Located at the base of the hilltop campus, the 160,000 s.f., $57.5 million facility is built on the footprint of the former Case Library. The previous library, which was built in 1951, was isolated from the academic core of the campus and had become cramped and outdated.
During the ceremony, Colgate President Rebecca Chopp applauded the new “collaboratory,” while Provost Lyle Roelofs thanked donors and introduced Helen Geyer, whose gift named the Geyer Center for Information Technology in memory of her late husband, William ’42. Attendees heard from keynote speaker and renowned research scientist John Seely Brown, who writes extensively about learning, collective innovation, digital culture, and globalization. Plasma screen televisions carried time-lapse photography of the Library’s construction.
Outside, the Library’s plaza was filled with Colgate students basking in the afternoon sun. Beneath them, less visible than other elements, a unique feature of the new Library is built into the hillside of the steeply graded site. The Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) provides archival quality storage for 500,000 volumes.
The opening follows by just two weeks the September 15 opening of the new Ho Science Center at Colgate, also designed by Shepley Bulfinch.
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