Brown University Library News

By Claire Cushman
02/20/08
Contract magazine, a national interior design publication, has awarded the Friedman Study Center a top design award in the education category. The study center, which opened in January 2007, has already received gold medals for “Commercial Interior Design” and “Commercial Construction/Renovation” in the November 2007 issue of Rhode Island Monthly Magazine.
The New York City-based Architecture Research Office, which conducted the renovation, submitted papers detailing the new study center to a jury at Contract, said Brent Lang ’04, the library’s communication and marketing specialist. In Contract’s article about the award, panelists commented on the architect’s innovative use of materials, their effective use of a small budget, the “bright, energized, environment” and how the “integration of graphics and ideas brought a fresh new perspective.” The magazine praised the center’s combination of spaces for socializing and studying, calling it the “vibrant heart of the campus.”
According to a Feb. 13 press release, University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi said that while she is grateful to the panelists at Contract for recognizing the center, she is “most pleased that it is such a tremendous hit with the toughest jury of all – our students.” The award shows that “the Friedman plays an important role in the experience of all Brown students,” she said.
“It’s wonderful to get this kind of attention,” said Barbara Schulz, the library’s head of business and facilities services.
The magazine discussed the project with architects Stephen Cassell and Kim Yao in its article about the award. The architects told Contract that the idea behind the furnishings and use of space was to create a setting “for all of the activities that make up college life – flirting, hiding, creating and gossiping in addition to memorizing, cramming and discussing.” The architects named the flat, upholstered seats “flirtstones,” and the light-filled seating area the “tanning lounge.”
Lang remembers the Sciences Library basement as dank and dingy when he was a student as dank and dingy. “There was never anybody in there. The only plus side was that you could find a place to sit.” In the past, the Rockefeller Library typically got twice as many visits as the SciLi, he said. Last semester, the Friedman received 250,000 visits, whereas the Rock received about 200,000.
Not all students agree with the magazine’s evaluation of the study center. Jeff Sanford ’10 said he found it “impossible to concentrate because there are so many people. It seems like a lot of people just come to pass out on the couch in their sweatpants.”
“It’s like a chicken coop,” said Erik Font ’10.
Kemisha Williams ’08 said she studied in the basement before the renovation. “But now it’s too crowded,” she said.

By Colin Chazen
02/15/08
Comprising over 100 volumes and covering every country that issues stamps as postage, the John Hay Library’s George S. Champlin Memorial Stamp Collection is one of the world’s largest collections of international postage – and it’s about to get even bigger.
The University received two grants from the Champlin Foundations last month, which fund an array of projects on the condition that they benefit the public. A grant of $50,000, received annually, will be used for the continued support and expansion of the Champlin Stamp Collection. An additional grant of $200,000 will be used to fund display cases that will be placed inside the Hay’s reading room, and will increase the library’s exhibit capacity, according to the Library’s Web site.
The display cases are part of a proposed $4,000,000 renovation to open up the Hay Reading Room and restore it to its original size and purpose. The Reading Room currently houses Library staff offices and materials waiting to be processed, with the remaining one-third of the room open only to those working with the Library’s special collections. Once the renovation is complete, the special collections reading room will be moved and the Hay reading room will again be open to students seeking a quiet, elegant place to study.
“(The reading room) could be wonderful, as it once was and was intended to be,” said Harriette Hemmasi, the University librarian.
Though the proposed renovations are still millions of dollars in fundraising away, the installment of the new display cases should begin later this year, according to Hemmasi. The display space inside the Hay is currently restricted to a small exhibit room and a scattering of cases, an amount “inadequate for the amount of material in the Library,” Hemmasi said. The Library houses more than 2.5 million items.
Beginning in 1960, George S. Champlin, the president of a family-owned jewelry manufacturing company in Providence, began donating to the University a collection of stamps from countries around the world. He added to the collection almost every year, and by the time of his death in 1979, it had grown from six to 90 volumes.
“This was his great passion,” said Brent Lang ’04, the Library’s communication and marketing specialist. “He’d ask all his employees, when they went to various countries, to look for stamps.”
The Champlin Foundations’ primary goal is to “fund tax exempt organizations within Rhode Island that have the greatest impact on the broadest possible segment of the population,” according to its Web site. The foundation has a long history of supporting the University Library, and was awarded the William Williams award in 1997, the Library’s highest honor, according to a press release on the library’s Web site.
“We’re so grateful for the grant,” Hemmasi said. “The foundation has been a great supporter of Brown.”