The Reference Center and the Great Rooms

Reference Hall, Doe Library, 2002.

Bene Legere Saecla Vincere is inscribed on the north wall of the East Reading Room in Doe Library Building. Translated, it means “To read well is to master the ages.” Scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences will identify with this quote as they are inspired by the newly remodeled and configured Research Center. This semester The Library is celebrating the opening of the new Reference Center. Harking back to a time of grand architecture, the Reference Center is a single centralized research space developed out of the three great rooms within Doe Library. The Center is comprised of the Reference Hall where the reference desk, Research Advisory Services, special shelving locations for the reference collection, and 34 computer workstations are located. Banked on either side are the North Reading Room, where the Doe Reference Collection is located and the East Reading Room (formerly known as GSSI) location of Government Documents Reference Collections, selected current periodicals for the social sciences and 15 more computers.

A Beaux-Arts room set next to a recreation of an Italian Renaissance palace creates an architectural flight of fancy as well as a focal point for research and reference services for researchers in the Doe Library. Librarians serving as liaisons to academic departments and programs, as well as other library staff, provide assistance and instruction with both print and electronic resources. A newly designed reference desk incorporates decorative details from nearby historic bronze doors. The mix of the old with the cyber-present allows unparalleled access to the online and print reference collection. The print collection includes 27,000 volumes located in the North Reading Room and in the Reference Hall, and the 15,000 volume government document reference collections located in the East Reading Room.

The remodeling cost so far is about $500,000, and it is estimated that a like amount will be spent to finish work on the Reference Hall alone. Eventually, renovation of the North Reading Room, which houses the bulk of the reference collection, will be undertaken with an estimated cost of $3 million to $5 million.

Reference Hall, Doe Library, 1939.

The placement of reference services in the historical second floor space links the functions of adjacent spaces, the Rosberg Reading Room and Graduate Services, providing a single place in the Doe Library for users in need of research assistance. We invite all researchers and Library patrons to come by and marvel in the beauty of the architecture and the bounty of research materials.