Study Hall Takes a Technological Leap As Brooklyn College Opens Library Cafe

Spotlight Archive

February 18, 1999
Study Hall Takes a Technological Leap As Brooklyn College Opens Library Cafe

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Alice Newcomb-Doyle (718) 951-5882

Brooklyn, NY - Coffee? Tea? Internet? Brooklyn College students who need a quiet place to study, browse the World Wide Web, plug in their laptop, or just have a bite to eat with their friends will most likely be found at the Library Cafe.

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 the World Wide Web, e-mail, and a large selection of software packages. The cafe features power plug-ins and modems and network connections for laptops. In addition, the center will offer four group-study rooms, lounge seating, and a swanky conversation pit. "The Library Cafe is an exciting component of our plan for an electronic campus," said Dr. Vernon E. Lattin, president of Brooklyn College. "It is an important resource for students, especially now that many of our faculty are creating Web-based teaching tools." A ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended by Brooklyn College President Vernon E. Lattin, The Honorable Herbert E. Berman and several members of the Brooklyn City Council Delegation, will be held at the Library Cafe on Thursday, March 4, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The new space also will prove indispensable for library information during a major campus-wide 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 will be 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.

Click here for more information about the Library Cafe.