UCF students, rejoice! The third floor of the John C. Hitt library has finally re-opened.
On Monday, Feb. 27th, the third floor of the library reopened to the public after being closed for nearly two years. The renovation, which includes the addition of 30 group study rooms, a new A/C system, more accessible restrooms, and large, state-of-the-art conference rooms and cost almost $19 million, is the second phase of a long plan for UCF to bring the John C. Hitt Library into the 21st century.
The third and fourth floors are just the first floors to undergo renovation, with future phases planned to modernize the library’s architecture, design, and technology on the first, second, and fifth floors.
The new look of the library embraces the sleek, modern, and tasteful designs of the 21st Century. Cozy cubbies built into the wall provide a sense of comfortable privacy. Each desk, table, or cubby comes equipped with stronger power outlets that “lock-in” your charger, preventing it from falling, losing charge, or being yanked out.
The new study rooms also come with built in TV’s that can connect through Apple Airplay, access the internet, and still connect through traditional HDMI cables. The 30 new study rooms also provide an equal number of smaller, two or four capacity rooms, as well as larger group rooms that hold up to ten students.
The third floor still keeps a main artistic installment while adding new nods to UCF iconography. Towards the south side of the floor, students can sit and study by the beautiful stained glass window called the “Genesis”. “Genesis” is the work of Mexican abstractionist artist Leonardo Nierman, who painted it in 1987 and won UCF’s 1988 sculpture competition. In that same area, the ceiling uses light fixtures to depict the constellation of Pegasus, the school mascot.
An addition to the third floor allows students to take a break from cramming and studying with the game collection, which has dozens of board games, cards, and puzzles to use within the library.
The third floor also allows visitors an open window into the library’s Automated Retrieval Center, a robotically guided system that was the first part of the 21st Century Library expansion. The Automated Retrieval Center, which is commonly shortened to ARC, lies right under the fourth floor Reading Room. With a crane that moves between the 7,000 bins holding library items such as books, periodicals, and articles, the ARC frees up the library for some much needed study spaces as well as speeding up the rate we check out books. It’s a great opportunity to appreciate and get a live look at UCF’s engineering knowhow.
To kick off the opening of the new floor, the library hosted a treasure hunt across the floor. The first 300 participants to complete the scavenger hunt got to take home a limited-edition rubber duck, similar to a Spirit Splash rubber ducky.
While the John C. Hitt Library has yet to announce the exact dates of further 21st Century Library renovations, the future looks bright for students and academics if it follows the trails so far forged by the third floor and the fourth floor reading rooms.