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August 31, 1999 -- The University of Virginia Library will host a grand opening of the Timothy B. and Lisa Nelson Robertson Media Center in Clemons Library at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17. University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III, University Librarian Karin Wittenborg, and Timothy and Lisa Nelson Robertson will speak at the opening of the new state-of-the-art media center, located on the third floor. The University community and public are invited to tour the center during an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Offering a full array of analog and digital media collections and services, the Robertson Media Center, which began operation this summer, provides expertise, equipment and resources for the use and development of media materials in instruction and research. Users of the center will find a trained staff ready to assist with questions or to check out materials from the library’s growing collection of audio, video and CD-based media, Wittenborg said. The center features tinted windows, directed lighting, small-group viewing rooms, full-sized classrooms and carrels designed exclusively for video viewing and studying various forms of media. Also located in the center is the Digital Media Lab, which combines the services of the Information Technology and Communication's (ITC) New Media Center and the library's Digital Media Center. The lab offers a full range of digital media services, including slide and flatbed scanning, digital audio/video capture and editing, desktop publishing, technical instruction and more. The Robertson Media Center was made possible through a $1.2 million gift from Timothy B. Robertson, a 1977 University alumnus and member of the Board of Visitors, and his wife, Lisa Nelson Robertson, of Virginia Beach. Timothy Robertson is manager of Bay Shore Enterprises and former president and chief executive officer of International Family Entertainment. Their gift also endows the Robertson Chair in Media Studies, to which professor Johanna Drucker, a visual- and printing-arts scholar and critic as well as avant-garde artist and creative writer, has been appointed after a national search. Under her direction, a new program in Media Studies, also located in the center, will focus on developing a critical and historical understanding of the cultural effects of traditional and new media. Drucker, who has previously taught at SUNY-Purchase, Yale and Columbia, and who is an expert on the history of written forms of language, visual representation and media theory, is the author of "Theorizing Modernism: Visual Art and the Critical Tradition" (Columbia) and "The Visible Word: Experimental Typography and Modern Art" (Chicago), among other scholarly books. As an artist, printer, publisher and writer, she has also produced more than two dozen creative works, many using experimental typography, through her own press as well as with other publishers. Robertson Media Center Director Rick Provine points out that more faculty are incorporating the use of new media into their instruction and that media literacy and the study of media are increasingly a part of daily life and scholarship. "By integrating all of our media operations into one centralized location, we can offer more and better services to our users," he said. For Robertson Media Center hours of operation, or for more information, call (804) 924-7474. Reporters: To arrange interviews or tours of the Robertson Media Center call Melissa Norris at (804) 924-4254. An opportunity for interviews and a tour will also be available Sept. 17. Contact: Bob Brickhouse, (804) 924-6856 |
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FOR
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: please contact
the Office of University Relations at (804) 924-7116. Television
reporters should contact the TV News Office at (804)
924-7550. |
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