Guice's Blog: Happy New Year! Building for a brighter future

[Champ967]

There's no reason not to remove Wyly, Prescott, and the bookstore to replace them with new and improved.

I could give you some reasons.

Or did you mean to say "In my estimation, the reasons for replacing the existing buildings outweigh the reasons for their continued use" ???

[PawDawg]

Wyly would almost certainly require imploding right?

That would be a great show from the west side seats of JAS.

[RhythmDawg]

I could give you some reasons.

Or did you mean to say "In my estimation, the reasons for replacing the existing buildings outweigh the reasons for their continued use" ???

Nope. I worded it to get a rise out of you.

[The Historian]

RhythmDawg,

Here is an answer to one of your earlier questions. Regarding where Old Main was located. In this aerial view from 1937 you can see the tree-lined drive leading to Old Main just to the north of Old Library which is now University Hall. Keeny Hall was under construction.

The Mechanical Arts building was still standing (where Howard is now located) but was torn down shortly after. In 1938 the Lady of the Mist was constructed in the Quad and by 1940 Howard Auditorium had been constructed and the Quad as we now know it was in place. The buildings directly across from Keeny were the English and Science academic buildings.

[maverick]

My apologies. I said Woodard when I was thinking of Tolliver, which was built in 1940, renovated in the 1960s, mothballed in 1988 and then renovated and brought back into service in 2003.

Ah, thanks for clarifying--and thanks for not pointing out my double negative. That's going to haunt me. LOL

[qng001]

Wyly would almost certainly require imploding right?

That would be a great show from the west side seats of JAS.

They'll probably use a wrecking ball and excavator like the other buildings they demolished.

[RhythmDawg]

RhythmDawg,

Here is an answer to one of your earlier questions. Regarding where Old Main was located. In this aerial view from 1937 you can see the tree-lined drive leading to Old Main just to the north of Old Library which is now University Hall. Keeny Hall was under construction.

The Mechanical Arts building was still standing (where Howard is now located) but was torn down shortly after. In 1938 the Lady of the Mist was constructed in the Quad and by 1940 Howard Auditorium had been constructed and the Quad as we now know it was in place. The buildings directly across from Keeny were the English and Science academic buildings.

Wow. Thanks for that. I spent many, many hours in classrooms and on stage in Howard. That was as interesting as the info on Old Main. And seeing Keeny under construction is pretty cool too.

[champion110]

Loving these old pics!!!!!!!!

[Houston Techsan]

The building just west of Lomax was AE Phillips elementary. Kind of where the parking lot for Madison is now. At least in the mid 60s.

[CutiePie72]

I was a student worker in the late 60's at the old AEPhillips. I'm pretty sure wyly tower and parking lot were where the lab school and lomax were--not way over in madison parking lot unless you consider madison parking lot that small lot just west of Wyly.

[Houston Techsan]

I was a student worker in the late 60's at the old AEPhillips. I'm pretty sure wyly tower and parking lot were where the lab school and lomax were--not way over in madison parking lot unless you consider madison parking lot that small lot just west of Wyly.

That's what I meant. I did say "kind of". OK, so Thatcher Hall dormitory was further west right along Rail Road. I don't know if Dawg06 was talking about a building that far west. But AE Phillips was just west of Lomax, then Thatcher and then Hale. Robinson was (I believe still is) across from Hale and maybe the Old Gym (not Memorial). I played some pick up basket ball games in the Old Gym but never had any PE classes there. At one time they had archery classes in there.

Does anyone know what happened to the Women's Gym? Seems like it was behind Harper or in that area.

[CutiePie72]

If you say thatcher (totally forgot that building) was just west of ae phillips, was thatcher where madison is?

I asked on the thread about tearing down pearce, etc., what had happened to the women's gym that was between dudley and adams on the west side and no one responded. Had major pe classes there--badminton, shuffleboard.

[Houston Techsan]

If you say thatcher (totally forgot that building) was just west of ae phillips, was thatcher where madison is?

I asked on the thread about tearing down pearce, etc., what had happened to the women's gym that was between dudley and adams on the west side and no one responded. Had major pe classes there--badminton, shuffleboard.

I still remember the girls walking over to the old football field (Where AE Phillips is now) from their gym to play field hockey in PE. They had to wear long rain coats to cover up their white shorts. And then took the rain coats off to play hockey.

[loyalTechAlum]

Originally Posted by Houston Techsan

The "refurbished arts/drama building" was the original library and is still standing. The present library is about 50 years old. JuBru says it's losing its functionality. How much space can digital copies take? How much of the material has been digitized and available on the internet? It's not rocket science and doesn't take a lot of specialized equipment - scanners and "searchable" pdf making programs with some servers. The internet is making libraries redundant.

It's very disappointing to see comments like this from Tech alums. First of all, Tech students are not ALLOWED to use internet sources for research purposes. If they are, usually only 1 source. The Library has to purchase VERY expensive electronic databases which contain scholarly articles in specialized fields such as engineering and science, business, education, etc. You CANNOT find scholarly research articles and books on the internet. Online journals and databases cost the Library hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to provide the necessary materials for student and faculty researchers. Many of these specific resources are required for accreditation. The cost of the databases is based on FTE at Tech and they can only be accessed by enrolled students and current faculty. Many more journals, databases and other resources are needed for a Tier 1 University. These databases, online journals, e-books, and the online catalog are loaded onto the Library home page and are maintained by the Library. While most students are internet savvy, many have great difficulty using the databases as they are all provided by different publishing companies who use a wide variety of interfaces. That's ONE of the functions of the Library: to help those who are having trouble accessing and using electronic materials. The Library faculty and staff have tried very hard to provide necessary materials and services, all the while being handicapped by a lack of funds. For example: there are 3 scanners in the Library and all 3 were DONATED by Library staff. By the way, some books are not useful in digital format such as art and architecture which rely on large color plates, photographs, floor plans, etc. The art and architecture faculty will agree. Although the Library has over 80,000 e-books, many, many print books are still checked out and students often ask if there's a print copy instead of electronic. Yes, we need a nice, new shiny Library, but let's not lose sight of the fact that this is a University at which research is conducted and the best research universities have the best libraries, both the buildings and the resources within the building.

[Houston Techsan]

It's very disappointing to see comments like this from Tech alums. First of all, Tech students are not ALLOWED to use internet sources for research purposes. If they are, usually only 1 source. The Library has to purchase VERY expensive electronic databases which contain scholarly articles in specialized fields such as engineering and science, business, education, etc. You CANNOT find scholarly research articles and books on the internet. Online journals and databases cost the Library hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to provide the necessary materials for student and faculty researchers. Many of these specific resources are required for accreditation. The cost of the databases is based on FTE at Tech and they can only be accessed by enrolled students and current faculty. Many more journals, databases and other resources are needed for a Tier 1 University. These databases, online journals, e-books, and the online catalog are loaded onto the Library home page and are maintained by the Library. While most students are internet savvy, many have great difficulty using the databases as they are all provided by different publishing companies who use a wide variety of interfaces. That's ONE of the functions of the Library: to help those who are having trouble accessing and using electronic materials. The Library faculty and staff have tried very hard to provide necessary materials and services, all the while being handicapped by a lack of funds. For example: there are 3 scanners in the Library and all 3 were DONATED by Library staff. By the way, some books are not useful in digital format such as art and architecture which rely on large color plates, photographs, floor plans, etc. The art and architecture faculty will agree. Although the Library has over 80,000 e-books, many, many print books are still checked out and students often ask if there's a print copy instead of electronic. Yes, we need a nice, new shiny Library, but let's not lose sight of the fact that this is a University at which research is conducted and the best research universities have the best libraries, both the buildings and the resources within the building.

Total BS. You are painting with much too broad a brush. You certainly can find scholarly research article and books on the internet. It may depend on your area of research. For law (I am a lawyer) you really can't beat the internet. It is nice to have all those case law books (unless you're a lawyer you have no idea how many there are), but more important are the digests. I can also find scholarly legal articles discussing the latest cases from relevant courts.

Yes, Tech needs a library but the information needs to be readily available. It was quaint using card catalogs, etc, but the pace of research and publication makes the information covered by them quickly obsolete.