U of C to break ground
on Campus Calgary
Digital Library

University of Calgary President Dr. Harvey Weingarten recently announced that the university will break ground on the construction of the $113-million Campus Calgary Digital Library on April 1, 2006, the date of the U of C’s 40th anniversary.

The groundbreaking will mark the first stage of a $710-million five-year capital growth strategy that would allow the university to enrol 7,000 more students by 2010.

The announcement also marks one of a series of events and celebrations being planned by the U of C to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

When opened in 2008, the Digital Library will be dedicated to Calgary. “April 1, 2006 is the 40th birthday of our university. Our university was created, and has grown remarkably quickly, because of the incredible support we have received from the Calgary community,” said Weingarten at his annual Report to the Community on October 6. “This is the university’s gift to the city of Calgary. It is acknowledgement and thanks to Calgarians for the incredible support and encouragement they have given us throughout the years.”

The Campus Calgary Digital Library (CCDL) is a partnership with all the public post-secondary institutions in Calgary—Bow Valley College, Mount Royal College, ACAD, and SAIT Polytechnic—as well as those in neighbouring regions, such as Red Crow College on the Blood Reserve. The partnership is a first in Canada and will create an information network that will see the university’s vast electronic library holdings made available to the public electronically for use in business, education and non-profit applications. It will make it possible to create a single library card for all post-secondary students to gain access to the university ’s digital holdings.

CCDL is also the cornerstone of the Lois Hole Digital Library. In the Throne Speech last March the Province announced the Access to the Future Fund to support innovation and excellence in post-secondary education. It was announced in the speech that “The new fund will also support the development of an Alberta-wide digital library that will allow all students and faculty, wherever they are located in the province, to access the resources and knowledge currently held in the individual libraries of our post-secondary institutions. To be named the Lois Hole Digital Library, this leading edge initiative is centred on the work already underway at the University of Calgary.”

The Digital Library will be built next to the existing MacKimmie Library complex. It will include space for the public to use the Digital Library and 500 new computer stations. An extension of the Digital Library will be built on the U of C’s Urban Campus in downtown Calgary to serve students and the downtown community. Satellite access points will be located at all partner institutions.

The Calgary Campus Digital Library and Experiential Learning Centre will result in 3,500 more student spaces; the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy will add 1,000 more spaces; the Urban Campus initiative will add 2,500 spaces downtown. Work on the Experiential Learning Centre—particularly upgrading existing lab space on campus—will begin in tandem with the CCDL.

At a meeting on October 14 the university’s Board of Governors will consider a recommendation from the university’s Planning and Finance Committee to borrow the necessary funding.

“It is important for our students— and for our community—to increase the university’s capacity. We are growing at a tremendous rate in order to keep up with Calgary’s economic and population growth,” said Weingarten. “These projects not only give us the space we need for these students, as well as the faculty and staff who will teach them, but they also provide the facilities we need to provide a progressive and contemporary education for our students and to continue the growth of our research and scholarly programs.”

Campus Calgary Digital library offers public access to vast collection

The Campus Calgary Digital Library is the University of Calgary’s top-priority capital infrastructure project.

The Campus Calgary Digital Library is one of four major infrastructure projects that make up the university’s $710-million capital plan. The projects – the Experiential Learning Centre, the Urban Campus, the Digital Library and the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy – are the cornerstones of the university’s goal to enrol 7,000 additional students by 2010. The Calgary Campus Digital Library and Experiential Learning Centre will result in 3,500 more student spaces; the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy will add 1,000 more spaces; the Urban Campus initiative will add 2,500 spaces downtown.

The Campus Calgary Digital Library (CCDL) is a partnership with all the public post-secondary institutions in Calgary – Bow Valley College, Mount Royal College, ACAD, and SAIT Polytechnic – as well as those in neighbouring regions, such as Red Crow College on the Blood Reserve. In addition, the Digital Library will build on the U of C’s relationship with the Calgary Health Region and ensure access to more, and the most current, information for health care providers.

The partnership is a first in Canada and will create an information network that will see the university’s vast electronic library holdings made available to the public electronically for use in business, education and non-profit applications. It will make it possible to create a single library card for all post-secondary students to gain access to the University’s digital holdings. The Digital Library will provide students, faculty and the public with information, expert help and facilities that support the quest for knowledge, understanding, creativity and innovation.

The Digital Library will be built next to the existing MacKimmie Library complex. It will include space for the public to use the Digital Library and 500 new computer stations. An extension of the Digital Library will be built on the U of C’s Urban Campus in downtown Calgary to serve students and the downtown community. Satellite access points will be located at all partner institutions. The project also frees space in existing academic buildings on the U of C campus through the relocation of some existing services, and this will create areas for new classrooms, laboratories and learning space.

In addition to U of C students and faculty, all post-secondary students, researchers and faculty in the Calgary region will have the same access to print, archival and museum collections. The Calgary Campus Digital Library will also provide the foundation for the province-wide Lois Hole Digital Library. Combined, the projects will make Alberta one of the most information-rich jurisdictions in North America.

When opened, the Digital Library will be dedicated to Calgary as a gift to recognize the community’s support of the university in its 40-year history.

Total cost of the project is an estimated $113 million. The Digital Library is expected to open to the public in the fall of 2008.