Transforming the Intellectual Heart of the University

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has undertaken a $10 million project to expand and renovate the Claire T. Carney Library. A key component of an ambitious Facilities Master Plan developed to address exponential growth at the university, the Claire T. Carney Library Building Project will create an expanded and enhanced intellectual and scholarly hub for the campus and the region.

A crossroads of content, learning and community

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth distinguishes itself as a vibrant public university actively engaged in personalized teaching and innovative research, and acting as an intellectual catalyst for regional economic, social, and cultural development.

A vibrant university is about knowledge and ideas - learning what is known, debating what might be, and synthesizing new knowledge and insight concerning mankind and the world we live in. The library holds our collective knowledge, and provides the forum for debate and synthesis.

We envision the Claire T. Carney Library as the intellectual and scholarly hub of the campus and region - a crossroads for content, learning, and community.

Opened in 1972, the library at UMass Dartmouth is one of the largest academic libraries south of Boston, serving more than 300,000 students, faculty and regional residents annually ally. It holds more than 460,000 books spanning a diversity of subjects that reflect what is taught at the university and the interests of the local community.

However, the library was built for a different generation and a different set of needs. It was designed to protect a collection rather than invite community; for individuals rather than collaborating groups; and before the arrival of digital resources, catalogues, reference materials, and laptop-toting patrons. It now lacks enough space for our growing student body, nor has it sufficient room for, and access to, archives of regional importance.

The infrastructure is aging and inadequate, and the compelling nature of the internal design is diminished by ad hoc use of space.

Our goal is to transform the library - to transform the intellectual heart of the university - into a modern hub of knowledge creation, dissemination, and interaction, and hence we are embarking on this library expansion and renovation campaign.

Transforming the Intellectual Heart of the Campus

The Claire T. Carney Library building project will involve a modest expansion to the north (under the Group II lecture halls) and a top-to-bottom renovation and redefinition of the existing library structure. The major changes are driven by the university mission:

Fostering a Community of Scholars

The Claire T. Carney Library will be a place that fosters community. Expansion and renovation of the first floor will create larger and better space for public presentations and lectures, along with a cafe and meeting places. The library will draw in students, faculty, staff and visitors in an engaging way.

Innovative Teaching and Learning

The Claire T. Carney Library will better meet the needs of active "net generation" learners through newly-created spaces designed for collaborative study, including a learning commons where group work, mentoring and consultation will be the norm. The library will also offer better spaces for quiet, individual study.

Supporting Research and Scholarship

The Claire T. Carney Library will continue to support research and scholarship through its collections and research services. Current space will be redesigned and renovated to house the growing collection of books and journals. Well-designed, complementary physical and virtual services and access points will meet the needs of the campus and region.

An Important Archive

Enlarged and properly designed spaces will meet the access and preservation needs of the library's expanding general collection and collections of regional interest. A new space will be built to house the Special Collections and Archives, and serve as a permanent home for the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives giving visitors and scholars a place to observe, learn, research, and study.

An Inspirational Space

The architecture, purposeful spaces, furnishings, lighting, information technology and general ambience of the Claire T. Carney Library will combine to produce an experience of intellectual richness, higher purpose, and inspiration to a greater self. The Claire T. Carney Library will integrate the surrounding campus, invite community, and provide a stimulating environment for discourse and discovery. It will be a compelling centerpiece to a vibrant university, symbolizing its nature and aspirations.

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