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2000 was a good year for Belk Library.
Since the new facility opened on January 31 of last year, foot traffic 
in the library has doubled, says Library Director Kate Hickey.
"We think the building is a huge success," she says.
The collaboration of library services, media services and academic computing
has been critical to that success, according to Hickey. "In the modern
library, many of the questions are technology-based," she says.
Director of Instructional and Campus Technologies Chris Fulkerson
says the integration of technology and print was planned from the start.
"I think putting technology in the library was the right move,"
he says. "The computers in the library definitely are getting used."
Fulkerson says the building has been used so much that it is already
showing signs of age. The furniture and carpet are more worn than expected,
and there is some extra wear and tear on the printers. He says that's
a good problem to have, however.
"The building has been used far more than we could have predicted,"
he says. "If you walk in here at 10:00 on a school night, it is packed."
Hickey says that students like the one-stop shopping aspect of the new
facility. "Right now, this is the hot computer lab on campus,"
she says.
Fulkerson agrees. "It just makes sense to gather information, massage
information and prepare presentations all in the same area," he says.
He adds that other schools have toured Belk library to see how technology
and library staffs work together at Elon.
"Now other libraries are trying to catch up to us," he says.
"I think our planning committee had the right vision at the right
time."
Another popular aspect of the library is wireless technology that allows
students to take laptops to their favorite study spaces. This year, based
on student requests and patterns of use, Fulkerson plans to offer multimedia
services to students as well. "We have those facilities for the faculty
and want to make them available for students," he says.
The library started a pilot program during the final weeks of fall semester,
keeping the facility open 24 hours with the help of campus safety and
police. Hickey says that because of the popularity of the extended hours
(more than 300 students used the library after 1:00 a.m. on a typical
night), the plan is to continue the program this semester.
Hickey likes the fact that the library is technologically current, but
still warm and inviting. "It's not just a bigger library, it's really
a different place than we had before," she says. Although students
are using the facility in record numbers, she hopes to see more requests
from faculty and staff.
"I don't think many faculty and staff realize both the wealth of
resources we have and that our budget has increased dramatically,"
she says. "I'd urge faculty and staff to be quick to request things."
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