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A Library for the 21st-Century Scholar

When Penrose Library was completed in 1972, learning was

largely a matter of lectures, books and labs.

Todays learning model involves experience,collaboration and access to information in forms barely

imagined 40 years ago.

That model demands a one-stop resource where the

activities of scholarship are assisted. That resource is on

the way.

When the Academic Commons at Penrose Library

opens for business, it will provide integrated workspace

for a full array of academic support services, including the

Writing Program and Center, the Center for Teaching and

Learning, the Math Center, the Research Center and the

Technology Help Desk. In addition, a Media Help Center

will assist students and faculty in the emerging art of

marrying different media into single presentations.

Were all about empowering people and providing

access to information, says Julanna Gilbert, director of the

Center for Teaching and Learning, which works with faculty

to improve teaching and learning and to acquire high-tech

pedagogical expertise. I see the new building as responding to

that. Now the books are almost a barrier to services, especially

on our floor. Once the renovation is complete, the Center for

Teaching and Learning, which is currently obscured by stacksof books in the southeast corner of Penroses upper level, will

have a much stronger visual presence.

An increased visual presence, adds Peggy Keeran, professor

and arts and humanities reference librarian, will help patrons

see the connections among services. It will allow students

and faculty to get research assistance at one stop, advice on

persuasive rhetoric at another and a consultation on embed-

ding media in a PowerPoint presentation at still anotherall

without leaving the building.

Doug Hesse, director of the Writing Program, expects

the new design, with its open floor plans and emphasis on

transparency, to increase demand for services. I think the

Academic Commons is going to be much more purposeful

and inviting, he says. Its going to convey to students that

this is central to the aca demic mission of the campus and

not ancillary. As a result I can imagine students using the

services more.

buildingstudents and faculty will find plenty of

books and journals. Theyll also find a light-filled space

designed according to a new learning model, one where

students can work in groups, develop team projects, use

the latest technology in innovative ways, and collaborate

with professors and each other.

Just as important, there will be continuity of service.As always, students can tap into services offered by the

Writing Center, the Research Center, the Math Center

and the Technology Help Deskhoused together in one

location. Faculty will be able to draw on a vast array

of resources, including the expertise of the Center for

Teaching and Learning. There, they will benefit from

many new opportunities related to pedagogy, from

applying the latest technology in the classroom to

learning the art of blogging.

Penrose Library has long offered DU students and

faculty a robust learning center. But the truth is that

the buildingfor all its midcentury modern charm

belongs to another era.

When Penrose was built in the early 1970s, library

spaces were designed to support individual studyand a teaching style largely dependent on lecturing.

Information had an address in the stacks or within a

roll of microfilm. A research project started with the

card catalog.

Today, a new adventure in learning lies ahead.

Penrose will continue to be the place where history

comes to life, thanks to Ascend: The Campaign for the

University of Denver. We are incredibly fortunate that

the Academic Commons at Penrose Library will allow

us access to extraordinary materials located around

the world, as well as our own, right here, on site. Is

there any higher or nobler cause than the promotion

of wisdom and knowledge? As the inscription over the

door of the ancient library at Thebes read, the new

Academic Commons at Penrose Library will continue to

provide medicine for the soul.

Nancy Allen, Penrose Library Dean

L

ibraries have always held a special place in

the publics imagination. They are centers

of exploration and inquiry, of mystery and

romance. Theyre conservators of knowledge andintellectual heritage. The late Lady Bird Johnson once

said of libraries, Perhaps no place in any community

is so totally democratic as the town library. The only

entrance requirement is interest.

To adapt to changing times and demands, university

libraries across the nation are rethinking everything

from how they care for collections to how they assist

patrons. Thats especially true at the University of

Denver, where Penrose Library is embarking on a

remarkable transformation into a new people-focused

enterprise: the Academic Commons.

The Academic Commons at Penrose Library will

be a dynamic center that will support social learning,

interactive technologies, student-centered programs,

and, of course, individual study and reflection.

In the new Academic Commonshoused in

a reconstructed, state-of-the-art, LEED-certifiedIN

TRODUCINGTH

EACADEMICC

OMMONS


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Office of University Advancement

2190 East Asbury Avenue

Denver, Colorado 80208

800.448.3238

giving.du.edu

A Safe and Secure Shelter for the CollectionsThe numbers boggle the mind: more than 1.1 million books,

250,000-plus bound journals and 851,000 governmentdocuments. Add to that well over 1.1 million microfiche, DVDs

and CD-ROMs. It totals almost 3.4 million items.

Before the first hammer falls, the materials housed at

Penrose will need to be moved to the Hampden Center, the

Universitys new 51,500-square-foot storage facility in southwest

Denver. The center, which will have a climate-controlled

section to accommodate the Universitys rare books and fragile

materials, will store DUs collections during construction.

Once the renovation is complete, the Hampden Center will

provide permanent storage for the librarys low-use materials.

The collections that will remain at the Hampden Center

include seldom-accessed print journals and those with digital

replacements, government documentsmany of which are

available electronicallyand low-use books. All the materials

will still be accessible to the DU community, but theyll alsobe stored safely and securely in an environment designed with

conservation in mind.

Browsing materials, such as new and popular books,

magazines and DVDs, will return to campus, as will special

collections and about 75 percent of DUs books. These will be

shelved on the librarys lower level in high-density compact

shelving.

During construction, patrons can access Penroses robust

digital collections online and page physical materials through

an online request form. Two vans will circulate between the

Hampden Center and Penroses temporary pop-up library in the

Driscoll Center Ballroom, where users can collect held items.

Its not like moving the books in your apartment, observes

Michael Levine-Clark, collections librarian at Penrose,

anticipating the logistics challenge associated with vacatingPenrose Library so that the transformation to the Academic

Commons can begin.

Visit ascend.du.edu for more about the Academic Commons project.

Nancy Allen, Penrose Library Dean

MAKE YOUR GIFT TOTHE ASCEND CAMPAIGN TODAY!

FUNDRAISINGFAST FACTS:THE ACADEMICCOMMONS

$33 million.

hand of $27 million.

the next two years is $6 million.

A new adventure in learning lies ahead.

Penrose will continue to be the place

where history comes to life. ... Is there

any higher or nobler cause than thepromotion of wisdom and knowledge?

ascend spring 2011

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