NSU's ultra modern library opens for distance learners

Nova Southeastern University has opened a new library. It took more than two years to construct. This is the largest library in the state of Frorida.
http://www.nova.edu/cwis/ia/pubaffairs/news/nsu-reachout-lib.html

 

These hybrid university-public libraries seem to be a new trend here in the US.

San Jose State University currently has a similar project under way. San Jose's public library system built their main library when San Jose was a much smaller city and it is now totally inadaquate for a city larger than San Francisco. So they approached SJSU about going 50-50 on building a new mega-library. Despite having recently completed their new Clark library, SJSU signed on in hopes of getting a world class facility at bargain cost. It's now under construction.

I gather that it hasn't been without controversy. Some SJSU faculty question whether a public library and a university library have compatible functions. Although SJSU amd the city library will merge collections, that will add lots of layman's titles and popular fiction, rather than scholarly journals and monographs. There is some question whether schoolchildren and graduate students can coexist, though the architects say quiet study areas have been isolated from the children's areas. There is some concern that rare scholarly titles will become less available for research as the community checks them out.

But all in all, I like it. It is a strong indication of both SJSU's and the whole CSU system's committment to bringing advanced education to the wider community. (Unlike the UC system.) There's a lot of brain-power floating around the Silicon Valley area and ideally this could evolve into a NY public library type deal, a major public research library full of local writers and independent scholars of all kinds. I certainly intend to use it.