SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY
“Library for the 21st Century”
Santa Clara CA

California’s oldest institution of higher learning sought an enlightened perspective to the design of the Library for the 21st Century at Santa Clara University. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the project is the embodiment of a converged university information environment that enables the development of an integrated information organization and infrastructure. The building creates new capabilities for the university as well as an opportunity to restructure its organization to take advantage of synergies between information technology, instructional media and library resources.

Employing state-of-the-art wired and wireless network solutions, the design anticipates a media-rich information environment inhabited by a sophisticated, mobile user population. Technology systems both enable and enhance the development of collaborative learning and work styles through extensive deployment of video-conferencing and technology-enabled workrooms.

The Library for the 21st Century features a 3-story automated retrieval system with capacity of 900,000 volumes, changing what was once a silent library into a dynamic center of collaboration, group interaction and idea exchange.

Read Santa Clara University Chief Information Officer Ron Danielson's
week-by-week account of construction progress in SCU’s Library Blog.

View live construction site webcam.