New technical library is already growing

Prague - The rectors of Prague's technical schools, along with Minister of Education Dana Kuchtová and builders, today signed a commemorative document that will be placed in the construction of the new National Technical Library, which is being built on Fleming Square in Prague 6. The building is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2008 and is expected to be fully operational during the summer of 2009. So far, the first floor is visible. The technical universities will move their library collections into the building, and part of the collection will come from Klementinum. The municipal library of Dejvice will also find its place here.
    The commemorative document, which was also signed by the mayor of Prague 6 Tomáš Chalupa, will be placed by the builders in the ground floor of the building along with other items characterizing the present. The document will be housed in a tube of the still-functioning pneumatic mail system, which has been in use at Klementinum since the 1930s.
    The construction will cost 1.8 billion Czech crowns. The new technical library will be able to accommodate more than 1.7 million volumes.
    The most requested titles will be freely accessible on site, totaling half a million volumes. However, the legal relationship between the various libraries that will reside in the building has not yet been resolved. Originally, it was planned to establish a public research company, but the new law regulating this type of company does not allow it. The rectors hope to resolve the issue.
    The library will also house highly valued unique technical literature. The probably rarest piece, "Mechanics" by Hans Holtzhammer from 1603, contains study notes written in German, Latin, and Greek, along with 134 images of machines, pulleys, winches, and mining machines. The oldest book that will find a new home in Prague 6 will be a work by Albrecht Dürer printed in Nuremberg in 1525. Interested visitors will also find works by Kepler, Newton, and Pascal in the library.
    The new technical library will provide current scientific information to students, educators, researchers, and the broader technical community. Already today, the state technical library makes thousands of documents accessible to its users via the internet.
    The building will have six above-ground floors designated for the public areas of the library and its administrative facilities, and three underground floors with a parking lot and a book depository. The above-ground floors will be permeated up to the roof of the building with a central atrium. Along the glass perimeter of the building and also around the atrium, there will be study rooms with high light requirements. In other parts of the library, there will be shelves with a free selection of books and periodicals, as well as study rooms with computers. The library will offer nearly 1,300 reading places in more than 50 classrooms and study rooms. There will be 400 personal computers available with internet access, and throughout the building, functional wireless connectivity will be provided.
    The architectural design of the library is by the studio Projektil Architekti. The selection procedure for the construction and financing of the building was won by the Sekyra Group. The company is responsible for not only the necessary investments but also for construction, engineering activities, documentation, and technical supervision. The construction is financed through a long-term loan due by 2014, provided by the consortium Dexia Kommunalkredit Czech Republic and Česká spořitelna. Construction began last October, and the foundation slab of the building was laid at the beginning of this year.