A renovation of the RWC Library, which has been in the planning stages over five years, has been successfully completed by the Cincinnati architecture firm of Baxter Hodell Donnelly & Preston (BHDP). The renovation also included the computer concourse and tutoring labs across the hallway, with a total floor space of 40,000 square feet.Mike Fraser, the head architect for the project, recently explained some of the design problems. To solve the heating problem in the Library, for example, a new ceiling design was planned with heating ducts and a centralized heating system. Fraser also explained that all the walls between the computer concourse, Math Lab, and English labs are mobile, so that they can be reconfigured to suit the floor plan needs of each department.
As well as working in a more aesthetically pleasing environment, RWC students can look forward to using several research tools that the Library has to offer. Chief among these is “UCLID,” an acronym that stands for the cumulative catalog of books of all three college libraries–Raymond Walters, Clermont, and U.C. Clifton campuses–for a total of 2.6 million volumes.
Another library catalogue base that is also available is the “Ohio Link,” which is a stateside consortium from the Ohio Board of Regents, including the libraries of all state universities and such prestigious private institutions as Xavier, Mt. St. Joseph, Athenaeum of Ohio, and Wilmington. There is also an “Electronic Journal Center,” which can access over 3,000 scholarly journals and is a part of the “Ohio Link” system.
In addition to its 19 computer stations, the RWC library also has an extensive array of educational material on hand. The Library owns 50,000 volumes of books, 400 journals with back issues on microfilm, as well as a large video collection, most of them hand picked by professors.