What's that great new space on the second floor of the D. H. Hill Library?

Looking for a comfortable, light-filled place to study in D. H. Hill Jr.? One with modern, comfortable furniture and color bursts that create a Hunt Library vibe?

Check out the new lounge on the second floor of the D. H. Hill Jr. Library's south tower.

Moving 1.5 million books into the bookBot at Hunt last year opened up much-needed space in our original main library, and we're using it ”as resources become available ”to create more study and technology spaces in the D. H. Hill Jr. Library. Instead of generic book shelves, the area next to the Unity Lab on the second floor is now a bright, energizing area with fifty seats for individual or group work. Enjoy it!

And in the north tower of the second floor, you'll also find fifty new seats (though the furniture is a bit older) in spaces where we've been able to take out bookshelves and place more tables and chairs that let you spread out and get your work done.

Coming soon ”the Visualization Studio

The D. H. Hill Jr. Library was the testbed for many of the pioneering technologies now in the new Hunt Library. And, as funding becomes available, we hope to continue to equip the D. H. Hill Jr. Library with many more of the state-of-the-art tools that have brought international recognition to the new library.

The Visualization Studio, for which funding was awarded last spring in a competitive, university-wide process, is the next step toward realizing that goal. Located behind the bright yellow wall in the new second-floor lounge, this new room ”scheduled to open by late September ”will give you twelve projectors that let you display on all four sides of the room at once. This immersive 360-degree view makes it easy to gather in groups and explore data that becomes all the more powerful when it's experienced rather than read off a spreadsheet. In the Visualization Studio:

· Students will have a powerful way to work together on group projects, to boost their presentations to new levels, or to study complex ideas and phenomena at a large scale, seeing them spread out around the room.

· Professors can conduct interactive classes and engaging seminars that surround their students in images, documents, movie clips, and data visualizations.

· Researchers will be able to work collaboratively to develop grant applications, collectively review code, or analyze large maps, imagery, or detailed documents ”or to give dramatic presentations of their results to their sponsoring agencies.