Bass +1

From the time it opened a year and a half ago, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Library, named to honor the generosity of Anne T. and Robert M. Bass '71, has been one of the most popular and welcoming "destinations" on the Yale campus.

In concert with the Wright Reading Room in the basement of the Sterling Memorial Library, honoring donor and Library supporter William Wright II, '82, and the Thain Family Café, honoring donors and parents John and Carmen Thain, the Bass Library has proven enormously successful-as a proof of concept and as a model of its kind.

The underground Bass Library complex , formerly known as "Cross Campus," was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Hammond Beebe Rupert Ainge, working closely with the Yale University Library staff, University administration, faculty, students, and other stakeholders. As a result of such detailed and sensitive planning, the Bass Library has proven enormously successful. Conceived of as a learning commons, the Bass Library also serves the needs of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. The diversity of study and work spaces, the choices and informality of the seating, the encouragement of group interaction, and the presence of a series of service points-at public desks and in adjacent offices-combine to reinforce accessibility to information, assistance, and both professional and peer support.

As a space intended in large part to foster collaboration and innovation in teaching and learning, Bass has lived up to and exceeded expectations. Free-flowing spontaneity is reinforced by a rich program of classroom instruction, ready availability of technical assistance, and gathering spaces for a variety of programming for and by students, faculty, and staff.

One of the key elements of the Bass Library concept is the Collaborative Learning Center. Integrated into the Bass Library, the Collaborative Learning Center is a destination for key assistance with teaching and learning. The Center is the result of more than six years of incubation by a campus-wide partnership among the Library, the Instructional Technology Group of the University's Information Technology Services division, the Center for Language Study, and the Center for Teaching and Learning. This collaborative effort brings together expertise in collections, technology, and pedagogy to advance teaching and learning at Yale.

The Library's contributions to teaching and learning, at Bass and throughout the Library system, is also strengthened and given focus by the newly-instituted Library Research Education Program. The Library Research Education Program "exists to advance the information and technology fluency of Yale undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff, [and in doing so, provides them] with the necessary skills for life-long transformation of information into knowledge," according to the program mission statement.

The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Library, the Wright Reading Room, and the Thain Family Café together provide visually stunning and exceedingly practical spaces in which to imagine, reflect, teach, learn, and discover.