NC State Hunt Library Dedication Slated for April 3

North Carolina State University invites members of the media to experience firsthand the most innovative, collaborative and technologically advanced library on the planet.

The new Hunt Library on NC State’s Centennial Campus will be officially dedicated at a public event hosted by Chancellor Randy Woodson on April 3. Hunt Library is named in honor of former four-term N.C. Gov. and NC State alumnus James B. Hunt Jr., who will attend the dedication. Hunt is also chairman of NC State’s Institute for Emerging Issues, which is located in the new library and aims to solve North Carolina’s most complex challenges by bringing people together from all regions, sectors and points of view.

Prior to the dedication event, a special interactive and participatory tour will be set up for media with many of the library’s technologies available for demonstration.

The media availability will begin at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3. Please confirm your attendance by phone 919/515-3470 or email newstips@ncsu.edu to ensure we are able to accommodate all requests.

The library features resources for students, staff and faculty that have never before been so accessible on a college campus, including immersive visualization labs, virtual simulation studios, a five-story robotic bookBot retrieval system that accesses the library’s collection of up to 2 million books, 3-D printing, a game lab, a large immersive Google Earth experience and more – all powered by a super computer located in the library’s basement.

As part of the media tour, participants will be able to:

• Command a submarine in a simulation environment developed in partnership with the Navy as a tool to better train cadets

• Experience 3-D printing capabilities, which enables entrepreneurship through cost-effective product testing

• Explore visualization labs that will be able to immerse students in real-life situations such as key moments in history, crime-scene reconstruction, immersive models of the universe and more

• Experience a four-player motion interactive game developed by NC State students

• Operate the bookBot

• Explore the Institute for Emerging Issues Commons

The media tour will end in time for media to move into place for the dedication at 3 p.m, which will feature remarks by Chancellor Woodson, NC State Student Body President Andy Walsh and a special keynote by Vartan Gregorian, the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and former president of the New York Public Library.

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