Norlin Buzzing All Night Long
Johnny Jenkins, co-owner of the Laughing Goat Coffeehouse, makes a soy latte in the new Norlin Library Learning Commons.
For decades, pulling an all-nighter in Norlin Library meant sneaking into the stacks and hiding out until morning.
Not anymore.
A $5.1 million first-floor library renovation called the Learning Commons is the campus’ first open-all-night study spot, complete with a living room atmosphere and a coffee shop. A hot topics room has a television where students can catch news updates and well-lit workstations with flat-screen monitors have replaced tired cubicles.
An outdoor plaza located at the library’s east entrance boasts workstations with electrical plugs.
And for those students who pack up to return to the Kittredge complex, there’s a safer, faster route across Regent Drive — an underpass. Completed in time for the fall semester, the underpass will help an estimated 2,000 cyclists and pedestrians avoid the dangerous intersection between the new Leeds School of Business and the Kittredge dorm complex.