Jerry Falwell Library nationally recognized for its innovative design

Liberty University’s Jerry Falwell Library was recently recognized in American Libraries Magazine’s 2015 Library Design Showcase for its innovative architecture. Liberty’s library was listed among top libraries around the country in a list that included the John Hay Library at Brown University, Boston Public Library, and Syracuse University’s College of Law Library.

American Libraries is a professionally renowned publication sponsored by the American Library Association, and distributed to 65,000 individuals and organizations worldwide. The publication praised the Jerry Falwell Library for its flexible work and socialization spaces, spacious learning commons, personal study zones, and more than 30 group study rooms.

Angela Rice, dean of the Jerry Falwell Library, said this recognition is a tribute to Liberty’s mission of helping students further their research in an environment designed to facilitate individual and group study.

“It is an honor for the Jerry Falwell Library to be selected as one of the featured buildings,” she said. “The library was designed to be both inspirational and transformational. Through the variety of study areas, students and faculty have many choices of spaces to collaborate, discover, and create knowledge.”

The $50 million, 170,000-square-foot library officially opened in January 2014. Library highlights include a 24-by-11-foot media wall equipped with Microsoft Kinect movement recognition technology, Perceptive Pixel tables (oversized tablets), interactive information kiosks, and technology commons equipped with computers that are located throughout the building. The library also features an Automated Storage and Retrieval System — a robotic book delivery system with the capacity to stock and retrieve 420,000 items.