Crews Demolish Old Library at Santa Clara University; State-of-the-art Learning Commons Set to Be Built

Business Wire, July 21, 2006

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The last chapter of Santa Clara University's Orradre Library is being written this month. On Monday, July 24 at 9 a.m., excavation crews will use a claw to take down the walls of the 42-year-old building to make room for the university's new, state-of-the-art Learning Commons. SCU President Paul Locatelli, S.J., said, "The new Learning Commons will benefit many generations of students and faculty, improve the campus learning environment, and move Santa Clara to a higher level of quality."

The new building will be roughly twice the size of the current library. It will have the capacity to store 1.1 million volumes, approximately 20 years growth, with an automated retrieval system (ARS) that will expand the library's capacity to store and access well over a million volumes. While the Learning Commons is under construction, a temporary library has been set up to accommodate the needs of the campus community.

Background on Santa Clara's new library: The new library will help Santa Clara University achieve its goal of focusing resources on excellence by investing in the campus learning environment. The library for the 21st century will blend SCU's Jesuit tradition with information technology in the context of contemporary Silicon Valley. More than a book repository, the new library represents a state-of-the-art learning center and gathering place for the entire university community, where teaching and learning scholars create, retrieve, and share knowledge.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,397 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is available at www.scu.edu.