William T Young Library
DESCRIPTION
William T. Young Library located on 401
Hilltop Avenue, Lexington, KY. Library is on the south campus of University of
Kentucky. Library has seven floors including the basement, building has six
elevators, elevators are located on each wing of the library, and all floors
are fully accessible to people with physical disabilities. Library includes 16
group study/seminar rooms and eating for 350 in faculty/ dissertation study
areas. WTY library has three entrances, one of the entrances is from the café Ovoid’s.
WTY library has a cafe that is open until Mon-Sun, cafe also has Starbucks. WTY
has four equal sides, the sides consist long windows that go up to fifth floor.
WTY library has big doors at the entrances and big windows on each side of the
library. WTY measures 350,000 square feet. First floor of the library has a circulation desk where students can
check out books and ask for assistance, first floor is mainly a place for
library employees and securities. Second floor has a little computer lab and
all the computer are fully accessible to the students, second floor also has
couches for students who want to lay back and study. Third floor has quiet
study areas, also the reading rooms where you have to be quiet all the time.
Fourth floor is very similar to the third floor, but the third floor has a
writing center where students can get help with their essays. Fifth floor has a
lot of books and quiet rooms as well. Basement has a two computer labs, one is
with regular computers (windows 7&8) the other computer lab has all apple
computer and individual study room. There are a lot of projectors and TVs in
the basement, basement is the only place where you can eat in the library.
Overall the building from inside is like a big square that has study areas on
the sides and in the middle one study room in shape of a circle. The materials
that are used to build this building are red bricks and white dry walls because
the walls of the library are white. The library is facing the south direction
which is the University Road.
First floor of the library and the side view of the library
The front view of the WTY Library
Quick Facts about WTY
Library
1.The library provides 3,000 general seats,
with 1,000 additional seats in classrooms and meeting rooms.
2.The library includes 21 group
study/seminar rooms and seating for 350 in faculty/dissertation study areas.
3.The building has six elevators, and all
floors are fully accessible to people with physical disabilities.
4.The building sits on 120 concrete pilings
that rest on bedrock.
5.Information on the polished limestone in the library.
CONTEXT
William T. Young Library opened April 3,
1998. Library is named for William T.
Young, a prominent local businessman, horse breeder, philanthropist
and alumnus of the university, who began fund raising efforts with a donation
of $5 million. The facility serves as a central library for the university's
social sciences, humanities and life sciences collections and
acts as a federal depository and a public
library for the state of Kentucky. It holds the record among public
universities in the nation for the largest book endowment. Mr. Young's gift
of $5 million kicked off a fund-raising campaign that raised $21 million. A
1939 mechanical engineering graduate of UK, William Young's businesses included
Big Top Peanut Butter and W. T. Young Storage. His thoroughbred horses included
1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone. The construction begun in 1994, the
total money spent for this project is $58 million, the biggest project that
University of Kentucky ever built. Mr. Young focused on the building being the biggest, not in height but width, the idea of the building being the biggest in United States. The library is visible from many places, for example to get the best view of the library, if you stand right in front of the Chemistry-Physics building, you will see the two wide paths and a library name, in my opinion that's where you can the best view of the library and obviously the front of the library too.
View of WTY Library from the Rose Street
WTY library can be compared to a lot of building on campus, in Lexington and across the nation. One particular building that stood out for me is the Lexington Public Library, this library is not as tall as the WTY library however they have the same design of the walls from inside and the color used which is mainly white and little bit yellow. The circulation desk is different in the public library because it stands in the middle and in WTY library the circulation desk is located on the sides of the sides of the walls. The design of the buildings from outside is really not similar but the inside is very similar because the study areas are located on the sides of the walls in both libraries.
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| WTY Library first floor |
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| Lexington Public Library inside |
Knowledge
is known to be the foundation of humanity and development. Libraries are
considered to be temples of knowledge. Given that William T Young library is
the second biggest library in the country I take pride in it and I try to use
this valuable asset as much as I can. I think that UK students are lucky to
have access to this great investment and should appreciate it. In my opinion
W.T.Y library is the masterpiece and symbol of UK given the structural
(interior, exterior) design.
INTERIOR & EXTERIOR
Design
Features
William T
Young library I think serves as one of the most important icons of the
university because it’s the biggest building on campus and it’s really wide.
WTY library can almost be seen from anywhere on the campus. Mr. Young had an
idea to design a building that could serve as an icon and the idea of being big
and stand out from rest of the buildings. The exterior of the library was
designed by Kallmann McKinnell and Wood Architects of Boston in association
with Nolan and Nolan of Louisville. The construction cost was $58 million. Its exterior
features a unique octagonal shape, two-story brick-and-stone arcades on each façade
and two-story windows. When it comes to interior design, our library is the
only library in the country to house all of its volumes on mobile compact
shelves which are controlled by the push of a bottom. This innovative method of
storing thousands of books is a relatively small amount of space freed room for
work place, study halls and reading rooms. The lobby features Treuchtlingen marble
mined from southern Germany. The layout of the interior is reminiscent of a
building within a building concept, with a center atrium that houses the
administration area on the first floor. When it comes to culture and people
from different backgrounds, WTY has national flags of almost every country and
supports the diversity, since this campus is very diverse.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The history of WTY
library dates back to 1970s when then University President Otis A. In 1990,
then-President Charles Wethington pledged to the faculty and students that
building a new library would be top priority. The University initiated a
massive fund-raising campaign in 1991, the university raised $21.5 million with
the help of local businessman who donated $5 million. In 1992 the university
received state approval to build the library and spend the money they raised.
In 1994, construction began on the new library. The site’s location was a high
spot between two sinkholes, which required the burying of 202 steel reinforced
concrete caissons into the soil to prevent the structure from sinking. It is
the most expensive construction project in the University of Kentucky’s history.
The deed at the ceremony was handed over from the Alumni Association to the university.
DETAILS
William T Young library is one of the biggest building on campus if not the biggest building on University of Kentucky campus, Young library is very well secured during the daylight as well as at night. Students are required to show their IDs after 10:00 P.M for security purposes. University of Kentucky focuses a lot on safety for students because its the number one priority. Library offers a lot of opportunities for students to get jobs at the circulation desks, library also allows some professor to teach classes at the basement of the library. Everyone that comes to the Young library benefits somehow because what every students do they do something productive. Library has 24/7 workers who help students to look for the books they need for classes. Library has a website where students can do research for their classes, the way the website works is students look up the books by their name or author name and each book in the library has a number that students can search by. Library has all the tools students need to be successful in their courses, whether its books, computers or assistance for research. Library features a lot design ideas from outside and inside because the rocks inside of the library on the floor are from Germany. The outside of the library features a lot of stuff, the bricks and the symmetry of the library is very unique due to the color of the brick and its relation to the other buildings on campus.
SOURCES
http://libraries.uky.edu/libhours.php?llib_id=14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._Young_Library
