In 2008, planning began for the new James B. Hunt Jr . Library on Centennial Campus. Students from the College of Design have been asked to add their input to the creation of different functions at the library.
The creation of Hunt Library has been in the works for a few years now. The UNC-System school library standard is any given library should be able to seat 20 percent of the student population. However, the University libraries have been unable to meet this standard, with the capacity to seat only four to five percent of the student population. Hunt Library will be able to alleviate some of this, but will not totally fix the problem.
Building of Hunt Library has already begun on Centennial, overlooking Lake Raleigh. Many are excited for the effect this library will have on the campus.
“Centennial was missing a heart to its campus,” David Hiscoe , the director of communication strategies at N.C . State libraries, said. “[Hunt Library] will give the campus life, and a place for students to gather.”
The University prides itself on having cutting edge technology incorporated into its student lives, and Hunt Library will help achieve this goal as a highly technical and digital library. It will serve as a unique resource for campus with a blend of new technology, first-rate services and staffing.
Students from the College of Design and computer science have been assisting the production of Hunt Library. The College of Design has a long-standing partnership with the University libraries.
“This is a new phase of our partnership,” Maurice York, head of information technology at NCSU libraries, said. “We’ve collaborated before on some levels for gaming—finding places for gaming, testing out games made on campus—but never before on this scale.”
The classes assisting with input are the Graphic and Industrial Design 400 classes and development and computer science classes, taught by Michael Young, Scott Townsend, and Tim Buie .
“I have about 18 to 19 students signed up in this [design] course,” Scott Townsend, associate professor in graphic and industrial design, said. “They signed up because of their interest in this kind of course. They were very interested that this might be a real life experience they might be working with others at a different college, and that has gone really well.”
The students are currently designing large-scale displays that rely on high resolution visualization. The resolution on the five different visual display walls will be four times better than that of a regular HD television.
“Visualization and color are key when talking about scientific research,” York said. “The high resolution on the research displays will allow students to see 115 percent of the color spectrum, so they can be really immersed in the visualization.”
The large-scale displays will stand at 20 feet wide and 8 feet high, and will be dispersed throughout the building. Many of the screens will be interactive, including applications for the BookBot .
As Hunt is a digital library, the typical bookstacks students experience at D.H . Hill will be taken away. Applications like the BookBot App will allow students to virtually peruse and choose their books and request delivery.
Hunt will also house a gaming lab, where research for gaming will take place. Computer science and industrial design students are currently collaborating on a game for Hunt, explaining what exactly the library means for the University. Computer science students work on programing while industrial design students create textures and designs for the game.
“There are very high-end technical capabilities at the Hunt,” Townsend said.