The Wolf Law Library

By Jaime Welch-Donahue

The nation’s first law school now has one of the nation’s newest libraries. Finishing touches to The Wolf Law Library – paneling of reading rooms, installation of flooring, and delivery of new furniture for the three-story, 55,000 square foot facility – were completed in time to welcome the Class of 2010 on August 19. The Library’s interior design and careful use of space offer an elegant and comfortable state-of-the-art center for research, instruction, individual and group study, and social interaction.

The Library’s facade is faced with brick so that it melds seamlessly with the rest of the Law School campus. Windows on all sides ensure a bright, light-filled space and, to the east, views of the wooded ravine. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the library’s two Reading Rooms may give students the feeling that they are studying in a tree house. Light is brought into the center of the Library by a skylight atop the three-story Grand Staircase.

Patrons access the Library from the Law School’s entrance hall. The entrance hall is in the process of being transformed with new pendant lighting fixtures, mahogany paneling, and new furniture, carrying elegant design elements from the new Library into our original South Henry Street building.

Features of the new Wolf Law Library include:

• 540 seats for patron use
• facility-wide Internet access
• 2 Reading Rooms on the first and second floors
• spacious circulation and reference areas on the lobby level
• 2 computer labs
• 12 group study rooms
• 6 casual gathering areas (for example, one provides an area for perusing newspapers and magazines, and one features pool and ping pong tables)
• a climate controlled rare book room, open to the public
• a three-story Grand Staircase
• offices for the Law School’s 4 student-edited journals
• shared office area for student organizations
• 342 student lockers
• office and work areas for librarians and staff

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