---

Key library supporters officially break ground for the new LaGrange College library. They are, from left, Speer Burdette, president, Callaway Foundation, Inc., and college trustee; Ellen Hudson Harris, trustee; Scott Hawkins, campaign chair; Jason Lewis, son of the library’s namesakes; Stuart Gulley, president; Loren Pinkerman, library director; Jane Holik, SGA president; Kevin Shirley, associate professor of history; Bill Hodges, board of trustees chair.

LAGRANGE, Ga.—LaGrange College officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for the new 45,000 square-foot Frank and Laura Lewis Library, the centerpiece of a $65 million comprehensive campaign dubbed “Defining Moment” that was publically launched on Sept. 13.

A crowd of alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students were on the building site to witness as a group of key library supporters donned hardhats and pushed shovels into the dirt to signify the beginning of construction of the new three-story $12 million edifice.

Emphasizing the campaign’s theme, LaGrange College President Stuart Gulley told those gathered that the ceremony represented a historic moment for Georgia’s oldest private institution of higher learning.

“Today is a defining moment in the life of LaGrange College,” Gulley said. “It will stand as a defining moment in the history of this institution for as long as this institution exists.”

He said the new facility will be utilized not only to help students “gain a credential for a career, but also to help them grow in their understanding of who they are as individuals and of their commitments and obligations to give back to the world.”

Callaway Foundation Inc. made a $6 million initial gift for the construction of the new library, and the college and foundation endorsed a proposal that it be named in memory of Frank and Laura Lewis.

Frank Lewis, the college’s first black faculty member and trustee, served as the school’s library director for 22 years. Laura Lewis, also a librarian, served in area libraries for many years before finishing her career working in the college’s Admission Office. The decision to name the new library for the Lewises was publically announced during the campaign launch in September.

Designed by Perry Dean Rogers Partners of Boston, the nation’s leading academic library architectural firm, the Lewis Library is expected to be one of the first LEED certified buildings in Troup County. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the nationally accepted rating system for high-performance sustainable structures.

“Our community includes more than just the individuals that make it up,” Gulley said. “It also includes a commitment to the community of the planet earth.

“With our growing understanding and embrace of sustainability at our institution, I am extremely proud that we have committed … that this will be a LEED certified building.”

Environmentally responsible characteristics of the new library will include recycled and energy-efficient construction materials, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals, and designated parking spaces for carpool and fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Lewis Library will be nearly three times the size of the current 16,000 square-foot Banks Library. It will feature 12 group-study areas, shelving for 190,000 volumes, writing and tutoring centers, a 51-seat auditorium, 24-hour study space, a large conference room and two suites for special collections and archives.

Alumnus Scott Hawkins, campaign chair and a member of the college’s board of trustees, also spoke to the crowd for a few moments. He thanked everyone for their support.

“I want to express appreciation to each of you for your leadership and your gifts,” he said. “… Your sacrificial giving has made this project possible.”

The new library is expected to be completed in November 2008. Once the library materials are transferred from Banks, that building will be renovated to house the college’s public-services functions.