Work on the Lear Center project began about six months ago. These photographs, taken during the week of October 20, show the Lear Center at the very end of the project with all of the beautiful new furniture in place. The vertical display case houses books and artists books from the "A Celebration of Books" exhibition created for the opening of the Lear Center.
Each of the three new tables in the reading room has electrical outlets for laptop computers and the room has access to the campus wireless Internet network. The five brass table lamps with round linen shades were made by Nessen Lighting of Mamaroneck, New York. The three tables, the main desk and the storage unit (not visible) were custom made for the room by John O'Brien.
A student researcher from the Theater Studies "Eugene O'Neill and His America" course uses resources from the Sheaffer-O'Neill Collection and takes notes on her laptop computer.The paintings on the wall are (left) Withered Lotus by contemporary Chinese artist Li Weihong and (right) The Hillock by Edward F. Rook.
Closeup photograph of one of the comfortable and attractive oak bowback Windsor arm chairs made by Dovetail of Holden, Massachusetts for the reading room.
A cozy sitting area has been set up in one corner of the reading room. The oil painting on the left is one of five by Old Lyme American impressionist William Chadwick that hang in the reading room. On the right is a watercolor painting of East Quoddy Head Light in Maine by Shirley Briggs, given to the library by Linda Lear. The handsome lounge chair was made by the Bright Chair Company of Middletown, New York. The round wood side table is by HBF of Hickory, North Carolina.
View toward the entrance of the Palmer Room. The two large tables in the center are original to this room but refinished and repaired during the Lear Center project. Similarly, the old parquet floor was sanded and refinished and all of the wood paneling was lightened and refinished. The locking metal enclosures on the bookcases were added during the project. The elegant wood side arm chairs were made by Bernhardt Design of Lenoir, North Carolina.
Another view of the Palmer Room. Not visible in this photograph are the hidden digital projector and screen in the ceiling. There are also retractable screens along the glass wall that separates the Palmer Room from the reading room that can be drawn down to screen out light or for privacy.
Half of the storage area has regular fixed stacks. This photograph shows folio and oversize shelving.
Part of the compact shelving is used to store boxes of material from the College Archives. The compact shelving operates manually with great ease and has allowed us to double our storage capacity.
One of the offices with the new furniture made by Steelcase.
