Paterno Library Groundbreaking Set For April 25

4-21-97

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State will celebrate the beginning of a two-year construction project for the $26.5 million Paterno Library at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 25, in front of Pattee Library on the University park campus.

Penn State President Graham B. Spanier and Gov. Tom Ridge will begin the ceremonies, followed by remarks by Jesse Arnelle, president of the Board of Trustees, Gloriana St. Clair, interim dean of the University Libraries and greetings from Nittany Lion Football Coach and co-chair of The Campaign for the Library Joe Paterno and his wife, Sue. Donning hard hats, the speakers will conclude the ceremony on a bulldozer at the construction site, which is on the west side of the library.

Those with access to the Web that day can watch Gov. Ridge, Dr. Spanier and Coach Paterno scooping dirt by clicking on the LionCam at the Paterno Library Web construction site, http://www.libraries.psu.edu/pubinfo/construction/

The Paterno Library will nearly double the size of University Park's main library. The project also includes renovation of existing space. Completion of the five-story expansion is expected by fall 1999, adding 110,000 square feet of floor space to the 130,000 square feet that already exists in the west, central and east wings of Pattee.

When completed, the new Pattee and Paterno Libraries will include subject libraries with specialized holdings in life sciences, humanities, social sciences, business and education, a new library for special collections and state-of-the-art information retrieval and telecommunications technologies.

The Paterno Library ground and first floors will house special collections and key operations; the second and third floors will support a social sciences library and a business library. The fourth floor will have an expanded life sciences library and the fifth floor will include an education library and administrative offices.

Upon completion of the new library, renovation will occur in some sections of west and central Pattee where the humanities and arts collections will be housed. The existing map room will become a traditional reading room and west Pattee will include the reserve collection and the extended-hours reading room. In addition, the existing east Pattee will be renovated to provide office and work spaces, periodical collections, reference areas and workstations.

The project is being funded by $11.7 million raised in The Campaign for the Library, which the Paternos co-chaired, and $14.8 million in state money. Their efforts to expand Pattee included a personal contribution of $250,000. The Penn State Board of Trustees later voted to name the new library wing after the Paternos. They had established the Paterno Libraries endowment in 1984 with gifts totaling $120,000. Subsequent contributions have pushed the endowment's total to more than $3.4 million.

For more information and updates on the project, go to the construction Web site at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/pubinfo/construction/

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Contacts: Christy Rambeau at 814-865-7517 or Pamela Peterson at 814-865-0401.