<p>After a $30.4 million renovation, the University of Florida's Library West doesn't so much shine as it glows. </p>
<p>Set to open today after a three-year construction job, the university's largest library now resembles something out of a science fiction film.
Some 200 computers, stretched across the 140,000-square-foot facility, bask under pale florescent lights. Monitors, separated by wavy panels of plastic honeycomb material, seem to sprout from tabletops in a facility that looks like it could grow computers overnight. </p>
<p>The digital offerings of Library West will more than satisfy most students' academic needs, according to Dale Canelas, UF's director of libraries. With so much available online, it will seldom be necessary for students to abandon their monitors and wander into a solitary nook of the building to track down a dusty, forgotten journal. </p>
<p>"Undergrads can get by with what's available electronically," Canelas said.</p>
<p>The advances in technology bring information right to a student's fingertips, and Canelas says that creates exciting research possibilities. But in some ways the libraries of the 21st Century, like Library West, signal a bittersweet departure from the classic structures that have so long been the hallmark of academia. </p>
<p>When Bill Covey began a career in libraries in the 1980s, he recalls the sense of mystery that a dimly lit corner of the library conjured up in him. Rows upon rows of shelving that stretched and curved around the library made for enormous, imposing, quiet spaces that encouraged would-be scholars to wander, he said.</p>
<p>In contrast to Covey's memories, many libraries like Library West have moved to compact shelving in order to conserve space. With the touch of a button, the shelves shift to create a single isle for students to walk down. While it helps with space, it eliminates those long rows of shelves that Covey and other young librarians relished years ago. </p>
<p>It does give you a little different ambience, said Covey, who serves as UF's interim assistant director of library support services. </p>
<p>Much of Library West has a look and feel that differs from tradition, but that's consistent with the direction many libraries are heading.</p>
<p>Pam Snelson, president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, says that libraries are responding to an increased emphasis on team-building and group-study projects in the classroom. If libraries hope to cater to that style of learning, they'll have to create spaces designed for interaction while also preserving those solitary coves that so embodied the libraries of yesteryear, Snelson said. </p>
<p>"Libraries change to evolve with the user needs," said Snelson, who is a librarian at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. </p>
<p>At UF, the user sometimes needs a big-screen TV and a bean-bag chair, Canelas said. Part of Library West's third floor is set up for students interested in video game design. On a far wall, space is prepared for the installation of a 60-inch television, which will be wired to a row of souped-up computers. As students work on graphics and games, their projects will be displayed on a flat-screen TV in full view of classmates who can veg out on oversized navy bean bags strewn across the floor.</p>
<p>Going digital
For those driving by on W. University Avenue, the crown jewel of the library may be the sprawling windowed facade that Canelas' describes as deserving of a beautification award. But for students inside Library West, Canelas says the biggest hit appears to be the U-shaped booths that allow students to huddle around a common computer terminal for group projects. </p>
<p>"The few students who've been in the library love these," she said with a motherly smile. </p>
<p>The booths look like they would comfortably seat four people, but Canelas says they'll likely be filled with hordes of students who are prone to pile into them like clown cars. Other universities that have installed these booths have seen seven sometimes eight students squeeze into one, she said. </p>
<p>Nearly every piece of furniture in the library is either hooked up to a computer or wired to power a laptop. But there's precious little that students can access electronically in the library that they couldn't tap into on their own computers at home.</p>