OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center Library Breaks Ground
PLANNING FOR SUCCESS: The University of Oklahoma recently held a groundbreaking in Tulsa for the Schusterman Center Library. The 22,000 square foot addition to campus will bring an array of resources to students and the community. President of the University of Oklahoma, David L. Boren described the importance of the addition during the event.
Groundbreaking for the $8.5 million Schusterman Center Library, which will benefit OU-Tulsa students and the public, was recently held on the northeast lawn of the campus. The Schusterman Center Library is made possible by support from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation as well as the State Higher Education Bond Issue, which was passed by the State Legislature.
“The new Schusterman Library is an important milestone in the continued growth and progress of OU-Tulsa,” says OU President David L. Boren. “It underlines OU’s commitment to serving the needs of the Tulsa community.”
The 22,000 square-foot Schusterman Library is more than double the size of the current library at OU-Tulsa. The library will house more than 65,000 books and bound journals in all OU-Tulsa disciplines.
The library will have a number of innovative features. A digital arts and information gallery will be the gateway to the building and will feature space and technology to exhibit creative and scholarly work from faculty and students as well as host exhibitions from around the world. A knowledge commons will include a computer lab where students work independently or in groups. Students will have access to all of the library’s print and electronic materials as well as office and media production software in this area.
Collections will be housed in compact mobile storage units to allow maximum capacity for growth in a minimum amount of space. A quiet reading room will provide access to both scholarly and popular publications in a comfortable environment that encourages contemplation and concentration for students and faculty. The library will also feature group study rooms for student team building and collaborative enterprise.
“This library is an important next step in the implementation of the campus master plan for OU-Tulsa,” says Gerry Clancy, M.D., OU-Tulsa president. “With the growth in students and programs at OU-Tulsa, it was time to build a library that meets the needs of our students and faculty as well as the public, who also use our library.”
In addition to OU-Tulsa, faculty, staff and students, more than 42,000 visitors have accessed the OU-Tulsa library in the past year.
“Students need to plug into specialized research databases and resources, but they also need to unplug from their everyday lives so that they can focus on their studies,” says Stewart Brower, OU-Tulsa Schusterman Library director. “The new building has been designed with this dichotomy in mind — to provide access to state-of-the-art electronic resources while simultaneously serving as an oasis, an academic commons for quiet concentration and contemplation.”
The University of Oklahoma Schusterman Center is home to all OU programs in Tulsa. Located at 41st and Yale, the Schusterman Center enhances OU’s presence in the community and expands educational, research and patient care programs for the community. The OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center currently offers five bachelor’s degree completion programs, 14 master’s programs, and doctoral programs in medicine, physical therapy, education, engineering, and pharmacy as well as 10 residency programs in medicine.
For more information about OU-Tulsa, call (918) 660-3000 or visit http://tulsa.ou.edu.
Updated 10-19-2009
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