The New School News

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New School Libraries and Archives Cut The Ribbon On List Center Library

“Do you remember when we were still in the basement of 65?” Ed Scarcelle recalled in a brief speech to students and faculty gathered for the ribbon cutting of the new List Center Library Thursday. “Look at how far we’ve come.”

Scarcelle wasn’t referring to the four blocks separating the old (65 West 11th Street) and new locations of the New School Libraries and Archives, but to the many improvements of the new 10,000-square-foot facility.

“It’s such a wonderful space,” Scarcelle said, “And a testament to the hard work of so many people present.”

Nestled on the eighth floor of the Albert and Vera List Academic Center, the facility features five bookable “collaboration rooms,” some with audiovisual equipment, “phone booths” for making private phone calls, “after-hour study group and break rooms,” printing and copying services, and an array of seating, from lounge chairs to long tables to carrels for private studying. In addition, the new library also houses the on-site social sciences and humanities library collections.

Admiring the rows of books by such great philosophers as Kant, Hegel and Foucault, William Milberg, dean of NSSR, felt right at home.

Finally, we have the space available for the kind of scholarship our students and faculty are pursuing,” Milberg said. “What a spectacularly beautiful and functional space.”

After making their remarks, Milberg and Scarcelle cut the ribbon on the new facility, opening a new chapter in the New School Libraries and Archives’ history of providing access to collections—and spaces—that support the research and teaching missions of the university.

“This is more than just a place for books,” Scarcelle said. “It’s a place for engagement.”