Students at Brevard College will soon have a modern, comfortable and technologically savvy space to study and learn. The College’s J.A. Jones Library is the recipient of a $100,000 federal grant for technology and furnishing improvements and will be soliciting additional funding for improvements to the nearly 50-year-old building.
“We are extraordinarily excited about these changes in the library,” said Library Director Marie Jones. “This grant will help make the space a state-of-the-art learning laboratory that will be flexible to meet campus educational needs for many years to come.”
Jones said the grant would help pave the way for a new Learning Commons, where librarians will “do what we have always done – help students efficiently and effectively find information resources for their classes.”
That once meant using paper books, but technology has taken libraries far beyond that. With tutors, supplemental instruction, and other academic support all housed in the library, the Learning Commons opens up opportunities to help students combine the content of library resources with the learning they bring from the classroom.
The new complex will improve student success by combining library and learning support services. The grant will enable the library to become a user-centered experiential learning laboratory offering a wide variety of support services for the campus community.
The Literacy and Lifelong Learning grant is made possible through funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. The grant’s mission is to equip users for success in life, school, and work through library programs and services that support literacy and lifelong.
As a designated beneficiary of the Cannon Charitable Trust, the College is seeking funds from the Cannon Foundation for improvements to the building such as ceiling tile replacement, roof and wall repair, staff offices, space for individual testing or study and other infrastructure support.
The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2017.