University Libraries
Clarity About the Role of the Library
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Abhijit Prabhu (left) and architect Geoff Freeman at
the Boston Public Library, in the city where each works.
University Libraries
Campaign Total: $49,214,841
Duke’s University Libraries endowed three preservation
initiatives, the librarianship, a local mentorship program,
and a women’s history and culture center. The Digital
Library @ Duke and other technological advances were funded,
while nearly $3 million came in annual giving. The Perkins
Renovation and Expansion Project, designed to create an accessible
and welcoming environment with the collections and services
needed in the 21st century, was planned, largely funded, and
begun.
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When Duke broke ground on the renovation and expansion of Perkins
Library, it was the culmination of a planning process that began
in 2000 and was recognized with the University’s Teamwork
Award in 2002. Abhijit Prabhu T’02, an economics and public
policy double major and student government representative to the
renovation committee, says the architect, Geoff Freeman, was “very
insistent that we guide the design plans.” Freeman, who has
worked on more than 75 academic libraries, explains that “there
is often a big disconnect among the goals of the faculty, students,
library staff, senior administrators, and trustees. What distinguished
the planning process at Duke was the very deliberate participation
of constituencies from across the University and the clarity they
came to about the role of the library.”
Prabhu cites work space among the library’s biggest shortfalls,
and the “existing study space has no relationship to [the
user],” adds Freeman. Not only must students fight to find
a seat in the only two reading rooms, it is almost impossible to
claim an electrical outlet, let alone an Ethernet port. After the
renovation and expansion, users will have a wide variety of work
spaces, from wired carrels in the stacks to casual seating in a
glass-enclosed courtyard. The design plans also consolidate service
points that are currently distributed throughout the library. “The
current layout is not intuitive,” Prabhu says, yet research
projects, like his own thesis on media regulation, often require
material from a variety of collections and in multiple media formats.
The redesigned first floor will facilitate this kind of scholarship
and will make space for a student writing center and a technology
support desk.
The whole idea is to transform Perkins into a place for scholarship
rather than just a receptacle for resources. Freeman and Prabhu
point out that the library’s services, staff, and collections
are quite strong at Duke. “A reinvigorated central library
space,” Freeman says, “is the critical missing piece
to a great library system that can move forward with the aspirations
of the University.”
Both say that the planning process reflected a good deal about
Duke’s culture. “The faculty and administration are
very engaged in the life of the students,” according to Prabhu.
Freeman describes “an enthusiasm for the institution of Duke
and a cohesion between people and departments reminiscent of a small
college environment.” That sense of an intellectual community
is precisely what Duke hopes to foster in the new Perkins Library.
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