University officials broke ground on UTC’s new $48 million five-story library today.
UTC Chancellor Roger Brown said the library will bring state-of-the-art technology to students and be the heart of the growing campus.
The library will be open for operations in fall 2012.
“We will be excited and anxious as we see this facility rise out of the dirt,” Dr. Brown said to state legislators, faculty members and administrators who had gathered for the event.
The new library will be built at the corner of Vine and Douglas streets, now occupied by parking lots, and will anchor the northwest corner of a future academic quadrangle organized around the old Chamberlain Field football stadium. It will replace the 35-year-old John T. Lupton Library.
In addition to space for traditional book collections on the first floor, the library ill include a 200-seat auditorium/lecture hall and a second-floor cafe for students and faculty. The third floor will have an information commons that includes a 150-seat computer area, and study rooms will be located on the fourth floor.