James B. Hunt Library
Title
James B. Hunt Library
Description
James B. Hunt Library, located on Centennial Campus, is a research library focused on science, engineering, technology and textiles, all strengths of NC State University. It was opened in 2013 and has since been the recipient of numerous awards including the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the highest honor given to libraries in the United States, and the AIA / ALA Library of the Year Award in 2013. In 2015, Library Journal gave its “New Landmark Library” to the Hunt Library.
The library is named after James B. Hunt, North Carolina’s first two term governor and the state’s only four term governor. He served from 1977 to 1985 and 1993 to 2001. Hunt graduated from NC State University in 1959 with his bachelor in agricultural education and in 1962 with his masters in agricultural economics. He served two terms as NC State’s student body president. In Hunt’s first term in office he helped to pass an amendment to the state Constitution allowing governors to serve two consecutive terms. As Governor, he appointed the first Black cabinet secretary, the first Black North Carolina Supreme Court justice, and the first Black chief justice in North Carolina. In his four terms as governor he was particularly known for championing educational policies. He was also instrumental in the creation of NC State’s Centennial Campus, when he granted the school 385 acres of land in 1984.
The driving force behind Hunt Library was Susan Nutter. She was the vice provost and director of libraries before her retirement in 2017. When she arrived at NC State in 1987, the library was in dire need of updated facilities. A particular challenge was the lack of space for students. The University of North Carolina system standard for libraries is to provide space for 20 percent of the student body. NC State was failing to meet this standard, a problem that continued into the 21st century. In 2009, the libraries had space for fewer than 9 percent of students. In a Technician article, David Hiscoe, the Director of Communication Strategy at NC State University Libraries, reported, “During exams I would have students lying on the floor outside of the door to my office in D. H. Hill trying to study.”
Nutter had a vision to re-create the image of the school’s libraries. She believed that libraries should be inspiring places and envisioned making a state-of-the-art library for NC State. During a talk at the 2015 Designing Libraries for the 21st Century Conference, Nutter recalled that in the early 2000s NC State offered her $9.5 million to build an addition to D.H. Hill Library. Believing the University needed something more than just a space to cram more students into, Nutter turned them down, and her persistence paid off.
In 2007, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated funds for the new library. To pick the designers, NC State held a charrette, a process in which design teams partnered with students to create proposals for the new library. The design firm Snøhetta was selected, but not because the University loved their initial design. In fact, as Elaine Molinar, an architect with Snøhetta, recalled in a Storycorps interview, “The work that we turned out at the end of the day was not very good, in fact I think [they] all hated it.” What set Snøhetta apart from the competition was their interactions and collaboration with the students on their team. This was important to Nutter, who always stressed that the library was primarily for the students. Snøhetta also had an impressive resume, having previously designed the award-winning Library of Alexandria in Egypt.
Construction on Hunt Library began in 2009. Breaking from University precedent, Nutter did not want a brick library. Instead it was built out of aluminum and glass. The facade, which features a wall of metal curtains, is meant to resemble a textile. This feature also regulates the light within the library, controlling the temperature while still allowing natural light. Usability and environmental sustainability were top design priorities. To achieve sustainability, they included features like solar heated water and incorporated recycled building material. To increase usability, they focused on details like glass walls and tables that could double as whiteboards, and different chairs and table types for individual study and group collaboration. Technology is an important part of Hunt Library. This is exhibited in spaces such as the Game Lab and the Teaching & Visualization Lab. It also meant that when designing Hunt Library questions of WiFi and cell connectivity were important factors. The most famous technology located in the building might be the bookBot, a system that retrieves books from closed, high-density shelving. The bookBot was selected because using open shelving for the 800,000 and one million volumes the library expected to house left little room for the desperately needed study space.
The building is also home to the Institute for Emerging Ideas (IEI), a group founded by Governor Hunt. The digital exhibit, James B. Hunt: A Legacy of Leadership, called the IEI a “think and do tank,” that tries to solve issues in education, economy, health, and both the built and natural environment. Nutter was against allocating space to the IEI, as it took away space from the library. This is reflected in the North Carolina State University Libraries Annual Report, 2014/2015, which stated despite Hunt opening, the libraries still only had space for 13 percent of students, rather than the goal of 20 percent. This has since been helped by the renovations of D.H. Hill library.
When the library was first proposed, there was some opposition from students. An op-ed piece from the Technician shows that some students were upset over the high cost and others upset about its location on Centennial Campus. However, student’s reception of the library has generally been positive, and it is considered a competitive advantage for the University and the heart of Centennial Campus.
Original Source References
Baumgartner, Peter, Jake Frost, Erica Shirts Frost, “Chairs of Hunt Library.”Tumblr. Accessed Nov 11, 2020. https://chairsofhuntlibrary.tumblr.com/.
Elaine Molinar, Marvin Malecha, and Susan Nutter 2017, StoryCorps Oral Histories about the North Carolina State University Libraries, MC 00619, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Hunt Library, North Carolina State University Libraries, Director's Office Records, UA 012.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Interview with Gwen Emery by Virginia Ferris, 22 June 2015, The NCSU Libraries Oral Histories about the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, MC 00200, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC.
NC State University Libraries. “Technology at Hunt Library.” Accessed Nov. 11, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/huntlibrary/technology.
Nutter, Susan, Joe Hewitt, and David Ferriero, StoryCorps Oral Histories about the North Carolina State University Libraries, MC 00619, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Nutter, Susan., et al. Creating a vision. [A presentation from Designing Libraries for the 21st Century, Raleigh, NC]. (2015, September 21). Retrieved from https://mckimmon.online.ncsu.edu/online/Play/af2f5b2593624a4790f703cece99feeb1d?c atalog=204eeecb-2f0f-4b4b-a1d9-b13bc33f1dd3.
Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1.N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries.
NC State Libraries.“North Carolina State University Libraries Annual Report, 2014/2015.” https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/documents/annualreports/AnnualRep1415.pdf.
Buro Happoid, Davis Langdon, DEGW, PBC+L, Snøhetta. “James B. Hunt Library Programming & Pre-Design Final Report.” August 8, 2008. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/sites/default/files/huntlibrary/documents/102508_ppd.pdf.
North Carolina State University and Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle, Ltd. “Library Master Plan.” June 2002. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/sites/default/files/huntlibrary/documents/masterplan_final.pdf.
Secondary Source References
Marty, Paul F. "An Introduction to Digital Convergence: Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Information Age." Archival Science 8, no. 4 (2008): 247-250. doi:http://dx.doi.org.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/10.1007/s10502-009-9094-1. https://proxying.lib.ncsu.edu/index.php/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/docview/214894353?accountid=12725.
NCSU Libraries. “North Carolina State University Libraries Annual Report, 2014/2015.” NC State University. Accessed November 12, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/documents/annualreports/AnnualRep1415.pdf.
Pearce, Gary. 2010. Jim Hunt: a biography. Travel Guides, Fiction and More. Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, Publisher. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=D0892FFC-1B46-4494-A754-DB19E9062D41.
Carr, Patrick L. “Extending the Technological, Discursive, and Rhetorical Horizons of
Academic Research Libraries’ Information Architectures: An Analysis of North Carolina State University's James B. Hunt Jr. Library,” (PhD diss., East Carolina University, Greenville, June, 2017), 176. https://thescholarship.ecu.edu/bitstream/handle/10342/6342/CARR-DOCTORALDISSERTATION-2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
“James B. Hunt Jr. Library” NC State Sustainability. Accessed November 3, 2020. https://sustainability.ncsu.edu/campus/buildings/leed/james-b-hunt-jr-library/.
NCSU Libraries. “James B. Hunt Jr. A Legacy of Leadership.” NC State University. Accessed Nov 1, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/hunt-legacy-of-leadership/.
Beckwith, Ryan Teague.“Jim Hunt” NCpedia. December 26, 2007. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/jim-hunt.
Media
“The Hunt Library Story (updated)” NC State. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okr78MUrImI.
Our State. “Hunt Library: The Library of the Future.” PBS. May 2, 2016. https://www.pbs.org/video/our-state-hunt-library-library-future/.
The library is named after James B. Hunt, North Carolina’s first two term governor and the state’s only four term governor. He served from 1977 to 1985 and 1993 to 2001. Hunt graduated from NC State University in 1959 with his bachelor in agricultural education and in 1962 with his masters in agricultural economics. He served two terms as NC State’s student body president. In Hunt’s first term in office he helped to pass an amendment to the state Constitution allowing governors to serve two consecutive terms. As Governor, he appointed the first Black cabinet secretary, the first Black North Carolina Supreme Court justice, and the first Black chief justice in North Carolina. In his four terms as governor he was particularly known for championing educational policies. He was also instrumental in the creation of NC State’s Centennial Campus, when he granted the school 385 acres of land in 1984.
The driving force behind Hunt Library was Susan Nutter. She was the vice provost and director of libraries before her retirement in 2017. When she arrived at NC State in 1987, the library was in dire need of updated facilities. A particular challenge was the lack of space for students. The University of North Carolina system standard for libraries is to provide space for 20 percent of the student body. NC State was failing to meet this standard, a problem that continued into the 21st century. In 2009, the libraries had space for fewer than 9 percent of students. In a Technician article, David Hiscoe, the Director of Communication Strategy at NC State University Libraries, reported, “During exams I would have students lying on the floor outside of the door to my office in D. H. Hill trying to study.”
Nutter had a vision to re-create the image of the school’s libraries. She believed that libraries should be inspiring places and envisioned making a state-of-the-art library for NC State. During a talk at the 2015 Designing Libraries for the 21st Century Conference, Nutter recalled that in the early 2000s NC State offered her $9.5 million to build an addition to D.H. Hill Library. Believing the University needed something more than just a space to cram more students into, Nutter turned them down, and her persistence paid off.
In 2007, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated funds for the new library. To pick the designers, NC State held a charrette, a process in which design teams partnered with students to create proposals for the new library. The design firm Snøhetta was selected, but not because the University loved their initial design. In fact, as Elaine Molinar, an architect with Snøhetta, recalled in a Storycorps interview, “The work that we turned out at the end of the day was not very good, in fact I think [they] all hated it.” What set Snøhetta apart from the competition was their interactions and collaboration with the students on their team. This was important to Nutter, who always stressed that the library was primarily for the students. Snøhetta also had an impressive resume, having previously designed the award-winning Library of Alexandria in Egypt.
Construction on Hunt Library began in 2009. Breaking from University precedent, Nutter did not want a brick library. Instead it was built out of aluminum and glass. The facade, which features a wall of metal curtains, is meant to resemble a textile. This feature also regulates the light within the library, controlling the temperature while still allowing natural light. Usability and environmental sustainability were top design priorities. To achieve sustainability, they included features like solar heated water and incorporated recycled building material. To increase usability, they focused on details like glass walls and tables that could double as whiteboards, and different chairs and table types for individual study and group collaboration. Technology is an important part of Hunt Library. This is exhibited in spaces such as the Game Lab and the Teaching & Visualization Lab. It also meant that when designing Hunt Library questions of WiFi and cell connectivity were important factors. The most famous technology located in the building might be the bookBot, a system that retrieves books from closed, high-density shelving. The bookBot was selected because using open shelving for the 800,000 and one million volumes the library expected to house left little room for the desperately needed study space.
The building is also home to the Institute for Emerging Ideas (IEI), a group founded by Governor Hunt. The digital exhibit, James B. Hunt: A Legacy of Leadership, called the IEI a “think and do tank,” that tries to solve issues in education, economy, health, and both the built and natural environment. Nutter was against allocating space to the IEI, as it took away space from the library. This is reflected in the North Carolina State University Libraries Annual Report, 2014/2015, which stated despite Hunt opening, the libraries still only had space for 13 percent of students, rather than the goal of 20 percent. This has since been helped by the renovations of D.H. Hill library.
When the library was first proposed, there was some opposition from students. An op-ed piece from the Technician shows that some students were upset over the high cost and others upset about its location on Centennial Campus. However, student’s reception of the library has generally been positive, and it is considered a competitive advantage for the University and the heart of Centennial Campus.
Original Source References
Baumgartner, Peter, Jake Frost, Erica Shirts Frost, “Chairs of Hunt Library.”Tumblr. Accessed Nov 11, 2020. https://chairsofhuntlibrary.tumblr.com/.
Elaine Molinar, Marvin Malecha, and Susan Nutter 2017, StoryCorps Oral Histories about the North Carolina State University Libraries, MC 00619, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Hunt Library, North Carolina State University Libraries, Director's Office Records, UA 012.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Interview with Gwen Emery by Virginia Ferris, 22 June 2015, The NCSU Libraries Oral Histories about the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, MC 00200, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC.
NC State University Libraries. “Technology at Hunt Library.” Accessed Nov. 11, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/huntlibrary/technology.
Nutter, Susan, Joe Hewitt, and David Ferriero, StoryCorps Oral Histories about the North Carolina State University Libraries, MC 00619, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Nutter, Susan., et al. Creating a vision. [A presentation from Designing Libraries for the 21st Century, Raleigh, NC]. (2015, September 21). Retrieved from https://mckimmon.online.ncsu.edu/online/Play/af2f5b2593624a4790f703cece99feeb1d?c atalog=204eeecb-2f0f-4b4b-a1d9-b13bc33f1dd3.
Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1.N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries.
NC State Libraries.“North Carolina State University Libraries Annual Report, 2014/2015.” https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/documents/annualreports/AnnualRep1415.pdf.
Buro Happoid, Davis Langdon, DEGW, PBC+L, Snøhetta. “James B. Hunt Library Programming & Pre-Design Final Report.” August 8, 2008. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/sites/default/files/huntlibrary/documents/102508_ppd.pdf.
North Carolina State University and Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle, Ltd. “Library Master Plan.” June 2002. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/sites/default/files/huntlibrary/documents/masterplan_final.pdf.
Secondary Source References
Marty, Paul F. "An Introduction to Digital Convergence: Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Information Age." Archival Science 8, no. 4 (2008): 247-250. doi:http://dx.doi.org.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/10.1007/s10502-009-9094-1. https://proxying.lib.ncsu.edu/index.php/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/docview/214894353?accountid=12725.
NCSU Libraries. “North Carolina State University Libraries Annual Report, 2014/2015.” NC State University. Accessed November 12, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/documents/annualreports/AnnualRep1415.pdf.
Pearce, Gary. 2010. Jim Hunt: a biography. Travel Guides, Fiction and More. Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, Publisher. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=D0892FFC-1B46-4494-A754-DB19E9062D41.
Carr, Patrick L. “Extending the Technological, Discursive, and Rhetorical Horizons of
Academic Research Libraries’ Information Architectures: An Analysis of North Carolina State University's James B. Hunt Jr. Library,” (PhD diss., East Carolina University, Greenville, June, 2017), 176. https://thescholarship.ecu.edu/bitstream/handle/10342/6342/CARR-DOCTORALDISSERTATION-2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
“James B. Hunt Jr. Library” NC State Sustainability. Accessed November 3, 2020. https://sustainability.ncsu.edu/campus/buildings/leed/james-b-hunt-jr-library/.
NCSU Libraries. “James B. Hunt Jr. A Legacy of Leadership.” NC State University. Accessed Nov 1, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/hunt-legacy-of-leadership/.
Beckwith, Ryan Teague.“Jim Hunt” NCpedia. December 26, 2007. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/jim-hunt.
Media
“The Hunt Library Story (updated)” NC State. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okr78MUrImI.
Our State. “Hunt Library: The Library of the Future.” PBS. May 2, 2016. https://www.pbs.org/video/our-state-hunt-library-library-future/.
Creator
Emma Stout
Date
2020/11/27
Citation
Emma Stout, “James B. Hunt Library,” Brick Layers: An Atlas of New Perspectives on NC State’s Campus History, accessed November 21, 2024, https://bricklayers.history.ncsu.edu/items/show/31.