Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007 - (Page 43)

After the renovations, Linderman includes great spaces for books; the collections are more brightly lit and accessible than before. From a space standpoint, there are enough shelves in the library system, which also includes E.W. Fairchild-Martindale Library and the Libary Materials Center on the Mountaintop Campus, to maintain the book collections through the year 2020. A True Library Café The renovations include the somewhat controversial addition of Lucy’s Café in the basement. When the buzz first began on campus about the café, the reactions were mixed. Some students didn’t want the café at all; they were concerned that it would detract from Linderman’s collegiate gothic charm. “A group of students sent petitions in JOHN MISINCO ‘05 protest of the café,” Cady says. “Some of them went as far as to write anti-café My earliest memory of Linderman was when I was only 5 years old, when the library seemed messages on the sidewalks when the arlike a castle. My mother, Margaret, worked in the library, and I spent a lot of time there from chitects came.” the time I was 5 through middle school. It was a fun place as a child. Being able to explore Others liked the idea, but they the endless rows of stacks was an adventure; it was almost wanted it to be “bohemian.” like a maze. It is simply a larger-than-life building, no matter “So we said let’s put the café out of the what your age. Linderman has a magical quality to it, and I way in the basement and make it a true think it brings out a sort of childlike imagination in all of us. library café,” Taggart says. “Let’s put bookFor the longest time, to me, Linderman was Lehigh. And shelves in, and let’s use lower lighting subconsciously, my experiences at Linderman may have inﬂulevels. We put in a lot of oak and wood, enced my decision to attend Lehigh.As a Lehigh student, I also and soft chairs, and we included a lot of spent signiﬁcant time in Linderman, especially during my ﬁrst books, magazines, and newspapers.” year. Any time I had an exam coming up, I was in Linderman. Speciﬁcally, the shelves are stocked One Linderman experience I will never forget was on with recreational materials such as novels, Sept. 11, 2001. I had gotten word that a plane crashed into cookbooks, and biographies. Outside the the World Trade Center from a friend I met on the way to my café, the hallway was larger than expected, 9:20 class that morning. We didn’t have a TV in the classso it was transformed into a gallery. room, and apparently no one in the class had heard anything “We are going to have social events, more about what happened. So my first stop afterward performances, and receptions there,” (about 10:30) was at Linderman, and that was where I got the full extent of the day’s horTaggart says. ror. I guess in times of tragedy it helps to be surrounded by familiar faces, and I spent most The renovated Linderman also offers of the day there talking with friends—and others I had never met before—trying a new potential venue for lectures and to make sense of the senseless acts of terror that had occurred. concert performances. “When I look at some of the rooms in the library, I think not only of a great place given it a new spirit while still preserving its old one. to store books and study, but also to have lectures,” Woodcock “In a way, it is similar to what they did to Coppee Hall— says. “And when Tony Corallo gave me a tour of the wonderful the new home for the journalism department,” Lule says. “They rooms upstairs that have been so well restored, I immediately kept all the important and interesting parts of the architecture thought of opportunities to hold chamber concerts there.” from centuries ago, but outﬁtted for the 21st century.” And the students have clearly responded. “A Great Place to Study and Learn” “If you walked in Linderman in 2000, it was relatively quiet,” Each aspect of the renovations included meticulous attention to Taggart says. “But now the students are in there collaborating, detail, and the committee and architects always kept the desires studying, and socializing, and there are wireless laptops everyof students and alumni in mind. For example, people who knew where. It is comfortable and well lit, and you can navigate to the the library well didn’t want the library’s signature spiral stairbooks you need easily.” case to be split up by floors, but fire codes prevented it from being kept completely open. “So we capped it with glass so you can still look down and see through to all the ﬂoors,” Taggart says. The committee also selected building materials very carefully. “I think we analyzed 12 different golds when we were choosing the paint for the grand reading room … and that was just one of many paint color choices,” Taggart says. “We also reused many parts of the library. The front service desk, for example, is made from marble that came from walls from another part of the building, and we also reused a lot of wood.” Overall, the renovations have enlivened Linderman and c fall 2007 c 43 My Linderman marsh wren

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Table of Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Arts & Culture Sports Research Cover Story - Forward March Little Man Overcomes Huge Odds Lights, Camera...Antiques Linderman Renewed From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007

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