William T. Young Library
The William T. Young Library (colloquially 'Willy T.') is located on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It is named for William T. Young, a prominent local businessman, horse breeder, philanthropist and alumnus of the university, who began fundraising efforts with a donation of $5 million. The facility serves as a central library for the university's social sciences, humanities, and life sciences collections, and acts as a federal depository and a public library for the state of Kentucky. It holds the record among public universities in the nation for the largest book endowment.[1]
William T. Young Library
500 S. Limestone Street, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0456, United States
Public
April 3, 1998
1.2 million volumes
Features[edit]
Exterior[edit]
The library was designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Inc. of Boston, in association with Nolan and Nolan of Louisville, and the construction cost was $58 million.[5] Its exterior features a unique octagonal shape, two-story brick-and-stone arcades on each facade and two-story windows.
Interior[edit]
The six-story library contains over 1.2 million volumes and can seat over 4,000 patrons;[6] 3,000 of these seats are in open-floor plan regions, with the remainder located in group study rooms. Each seat is equipped with or adjacent to a computer data jack.[5] Initially, there were 600 desktop computers available, three times as many as was in the former Margaret I. King Library, and 40 laptop computers, half of which were wireless utilizing cellular phone access cards.
When it was constructed, it was the only library in the country to house all of its volumes on mobile compact shelves[7] which are controlled by the push of a button. This innovative method of storing thousands of books in a relatively small amount of space freed room for work spaces, study halls and reading rooms.
The lobby features Treuchtlingen marble mined from southern Germany. The layout of the interior is reminiscent of a "building within a building" concept,[7] with a center atrium that houses the circulation area on the first floor and reading rooms on the second and fifth floors. The rotunda is surrounded by skylights that give natural light into the central atrium, and features a chandelier that weighs 3,700 lb (1,700 kg). The chandelier fell while undergoing maintenance in late 2014 and was replaced in 2019 by a replica created by SPI Lighting.[8] The 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2) building has six elevators and all floors are fully handicap accessible.
A 150-seat auditorium is located at the University Drive entrance. A Starbucks is located on the east wing of the building.