Brooklyn College Salutes Technology with Opening of Library Cafe

Spotlight Archive

March 8, 1999
Brooklyn College Salutes Technology with Opening of Library Cafe

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Alice Newcomb-Doyle (718) 951-5882

Brooklyn, NY - Members of the New York City Council and Brooklyn College administrators and students recently gathered to celebrate the official opening of the Library Cafe, a state-of-the-art computer center that provides a place to browse the World Wide Web, complete on-line assignments, plug in a laptop, or have a bite to eat.

The sleek electronic center, funded with a $1.6 million capital grant from the New York City Council, is located on the ground floor of Whitehead Hall.

Students have access to 50 high-speed, networked computers and all the amenities that go with them, including e-mail and a large selection of software packages. The cafe features power plug-ins, modems, network connections for laptops, and four group-study rooms. "Seeing an educational facility like this come to life is a thrill for me," said The Honorable Herbert E. Berman, chairman of the finance committee, who spoke on behalf of the New York City Council. "I remember how difficult it was when I was a student to find an inviting place to study between classes."

The new space also will provide library information during a major campuswide renovation and expansion project, due to begin in June. All library services, including the online catalogue, electronic journals, reference sources, indexes, databases, and CD-ROM products are located on the library's local area network, which may be accessed from any Library Cafe computer.

Barbara Higginbotham, chief librarian and executive director of academic information technologies, pointed out that librarians and technical staff are on hand to help students take advantage of the new system. Workshops are available for people who would like to improve their research and computing skills.

The Library Cafe, an elegant combination of warm woods, brushed metals, transparent wiring tubes, and halogen lighting, was designed by the architectural firm of Thanhauser and Esterson.

Brooklyn College, founded in 1930, is one of the eleven senior colleges of the City University of New York. It educates 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The school is known nationally for its core curriculum, which has been hailed as one of the "bright spots" in American higher education. Located on a 26-acre tree-lined campus in Flatbush, Brooklyn College has a diverse student body representing more than 70 of the borough's 100 ethnic groups. Additional information, including course descriptions and admissions requirements, is available on the Brooklyn College Web site at: www.brooklyn.cuny.edu.

Click here for more information about the Library Cafe.