Spring Break
$3M donated for future Library annex
DEEPIKA RAO
- Page 1 of 1
The Main Library received the money from the Richard B. Russell Foundation, an organization that promotes the memory of the late Georgia senator Richard Russell.
The $3 million will be used to build an extension of the library which will be named for Russell, who spent 50 years of his life in public service.
"The building will house some of the library's rarest collections of manuscripts. This building will be located behind the Holiday Inn on Hull Street," said Chantel Dunham, director of development for the Main Library.
According to a University news release, the building will have three separate collections -- the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Study and the Walter J. Brown Media Archive and Peabody Award Collection.
William Potter, associate provost and University librarian, said some very rare items make up these collections.
"We have Peabody Award entries from the 1940s and a log of people who came to the colony of Georgia by ship in 1732," he said.
Dunham said the building will be more suitable for the collections, which she said are some of the most extensive in the Southeast.
"This building will be state-of-the-art," she said. "It will be operated with the right climate and conditions in order to ensure the security of the material."
Potter said not only will it protect these materials, it also will offer adequate display space for the items, classrooms and seminar rooms.
He said the total cost of the building will be $36 million, of which the Board of Regents will pay $24 million. The library is responsible for raising the remaining $12 million.
"Including the Russell Foundation's gift, we have raised $8 million, and the Foundation has also pledged their best to raise $3 million more," he said.
Potter said construction will not begin for at least four to seven years because the building is 21st on the list of structures the Board of Regents plans to build.
Potter said when the building is finally built, it will benefit the University community by preserving the rare collections for future generations.
"We've got these really tremendous collections that are truly the gems of our library," he said.
