Date: Nov 06, 2006

AXINN LIBRARY REOPENS RENOVATED MAIN FLOOR

Redesign reflects library's role as gateway to information and knowledge worldwide

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY - The newly renovated main floor of the Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library will be officially reopened on Monday, Nov. 13 at 4:30 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting by Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz and Donald Everett Axinn.

The ceremony and a reception will take place at the Axinn library on the south campus at the south end of the Unispan that connects to the Student Center. A jazz trio composed of Hofstra music students will provide the music. Refreshments will be served.

The renovation transforms a traditional and aging library into a modern, light and airy space of metal and glass which reflects the library's contemporary role as a gateway to information and knowledge from around the world through the Internet," said Daniel Rubey, Dean of Library and Information Services at Hofstra. "Our design is intended to make the library a more open and welcoming place for students, one which meets their social and community needs as well as their research needs in the new information age."

Designing the new space was a collaborative effort by Hofstra students, library faculty and staff working with the Long Island architectural firm Bentel & Bentel of Locust Valley. The renovation, which began at the end of the spring semester, features more comfortable lounge seating, updated service desks, improved lighting, additional work space for students with wireless access, and a coffee bar.

The 11-story Axinn Library, the main library at Hofstra built in 1968, houses the circulating book and the journal collections, the Harold E. Yuker Reference Library, the John W. Wydler Government Documents Depository, and the Business Development Center. The library contains approximately one million volumes and more than 4,000 print journals, and provides online access from campus or home to 26,000 recently published academic books, 130 electronic subscription databases and 30,000 full-text journals.

ofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students find their edge to succeed in more than 140 undergraduate and 150 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. With a student-faculty ratio of 14-to-1, our professors teach small classes averaging 25 students that emphasize interaction, critical thinking and analysis.