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University of Virginia Library / Biblioteca de la Universidad de Virginia

Biblioteca central de la Universidad de Virginia

1817 - 1826
JEFFERSON, Thomas
LATROBE, Benjamin Henry

Charlottesville (Virginia)
Estados Unidos

Estekak
Autorea
Bibliografía

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CAMPBELL, James W.P. The Libray: A World History. Thames & Hudson. 2013

p.212-214. "Just four years after the American Declaration of Independence, Jefferson began to propose the founding of a new university in Charlottesville (Virginia). In doing so he was consciously creating a new type of institution: the secular university. All previous universities had placed religious buildings at the heart of their campuses. In contrast, Jefferson's plan was to locate the library in the center of the new university. The students would stay in low buildings located between the homes of the teachers, who would give their classes in the living rooms of their homes. The idea that students and teachers were neighbors was not in itself revolutionary, as it was borrowed from European collegiate universities. The novelty consisted of distributing these residential constructions in two rows facing each other on both sides of the law; central open-air space, covered with grass, around which the buildings were arranged. Behind the latter, other rows of buildings housed the refectory and additional accommodation.

Jefferson located the University library on the ground floor of the building at the end of the campus, and called it the Rotunda. Its exterior refers to the Roman pantheon with a majestic portico that offers entry to the building. The library occupies the entire upper floor. At first its bookcases were arranged radially from the center of the premises, both on its lower level and in the gallery that rises above it, but the central space was cleared of fixed furniture to allow the room to be used for other purposes. The first thing that strikes the visitor is the limited number of volumes that the original library could house. Although the space was more than enough to house the initial collection, it proved incapable of accommodating the expansion of the collection. The original building was completed in October 1826. Between 1851 and 1855 a rectangular annex was added to the rear".

Thus, a consolidated tradition will develop in the United States with the creation of new libraries named after the presidents, a tradition that lasts to this day:Jimmy Carter in Atlanta. Georgia / G.W Library: Bush Texas / Ronald Reagan Library. Simi (California) /J. Kennedy Library in Boston / B. Obama Library (Chicago)…

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