Thanks to more than $3.3 million in private donations, USM's Albert Brenner Glickman Family Library in Portland has been completed.
The seven-story building just off I-295 first opened in the fall of 1993, but the top three floors remained vacant. Work began in July of 2003 to renovate the 26,500 square feet of space on the upper three floors to house resources available to students, faculty and the public. The work was completed earlier this month.
The project's completion is being celebrated on Thursday, April 15, with a series of receptions to recognize donors. That will be followed by an open house for the campus on Friday, April 16, and with events during the week of April 19. A public open house is scheduled for Saturday, June 5.
The $3.3 million project was made possible entirely through private gifts from alumni, local businesses and individuals. “As a public university, USM has a responsibility to serve as a high-quality academic and cultural resource for Maine's most populous region,” said USM President Richard L. Pattenaude. “The generous support from the people and businesses of Maine has enabled us to build significantly the capacity of this excellent library to serve students, faculty, and the community at large.”
Among the highlights:
- The seventh floor features the Alfred and Dorothy Suzi Osher University Pavilion, a showcase space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Portland and Back Cove. The Pavilion includes the UnumProvident Great Reading Room, and The University Room for Special Events, a facility which accommodates 200 people, made possible through a gift from USM alumna Barbara M. Briggs and her husband, Dr. Russell C. Briggs. As part of the opening celebrations, eight works by Maine artist S.C. Schoneberg will be on display in the UnumProvident Great Reading Room.
- Furniture from Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers, which has furnished libraries across the nation for 25 years, is used on the sixth and seventh floors. It marks the first time that Moser furniture has been used in a Maine library.
- The sixth floor is designed to make USM's special collections more accessible to students, scholars and the public. It includes the Mildred Brenner Glickman Special Collections Area, which houses the Kevin P. and Sherry L. McCarthy and Family Reading Room; the Mary Walton Giamatti Seminar Room; and the Bernard and Shirley Kazon Exhibit Area, among other facilities. The sixth floor also is home to the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, the holdings of which include the African American Collection; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Collection; and the Judaica Collection.
- The fifth floor features a state-of-the-art electronic classroom, known as the Center for Information Literacy. The center is made possible by gifts from the Verizon Foundation and Norway Savings Bank. The floor also is home to the new Hagge Family Student Computing Area, and the AAA Northern New England Cafe.
- The renovations added 224 new student seats, 56 computer workstations, and a total of 26,500 additional square feet of space over the current total of 36,000.
- The library holdings now total 1.6 million items.
- The architectural firm of SMRT of Portland and Sarasota, Fla. designed the top three floors. SMRT was founded in 1883 by architect John Calvin Stevens. Lead architect for this project was Scott Benson, assisted by SMRT architect Janet Hansen. The SMRT team was assisted by library building consultant Jay Lucker, former director of libraries at MIT, who designed library projects at MIT, Princeton, and other universities. Wright-Ryan Construction Inc. of Portland won the bid for the construction.
- The 1919 building, originally a commercial bakery, began its transformation into a university library with passage of a $9.1 million state bond. USM bought the building in 1990. JSA, Inc. of Portsmouth, N.H., was the architectural firm that designed the award-winning Kalwall paneled exterior, and first four floors containing book stacks, advanced fiber optic computer technology, reference materials, periodicals, archives and office and conference areas. The second and third floors also have been renovated to increase student seating, shelving and the number of computers.
- The first floor of the Glickman Library also houses USM's Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, which opened in 1994. The cartographic collections were formed from the major gifts of Harold L. and Peggy L. Osher of Portland, and the late Lawrence M.C. and Eleanor Houston Smith. The collections date back to 1475 and are considered among the finest historical cartographic collections. The new floors include specialized storage space for the collections.
In October of 1997, the Portland Campus Library was renamed the Albert Brenner Glickman Family Library in recognition of the donation of $1 million by Albert B. and Judith L. Glickman of Cape Elizabeth. |
