The original Mann Library building reopened its front doors last week, marking the near-completion of a four-year renovation project and the end of seven years of operation in the adjacent library addition.

In contrast with the hot, dark and cramped quarters that prior generations of Cornellians may remember, the new and improved Mann is spacious and filled with light, exemplified by an airy, five-story atrium and study areas that are roomy and, most importantly, air-conditioned.

The original 1950s-era library "was a hardcore study spot -- you really had to want to be here," said public services librarian Jim Morris-Knower, who conducted tours of the renovated building at an Aug. 24 open house. "One of the things we gained is a lot of individual and group study space."

Wooded areas just beyond the windows are a serene backdrop to the stacks and study areas, and there are views of the Centennial Garden and Beebe Lake, Morris-Knower said.

Mann may be officially open, but it is still a work in progress as the final stages of joining the now completely revamped original building to the Mann Library Addition are completed.

Newly reinstalled stacks await the return of books from annex storage. Marble is being installed on the atrium staircase, and workers are laying carpet in the Reading Room and putting other finishing touches on the wood-lined Bissett Collaborative Center on the second floor.

Four new computer classrooms, including a CIT lab, will open in spring 2008. The entire facility is wired for computer networking, and seminar and conference rooms will accommodate distance learning and videoconferencing, examples of the modern infrastructure added to the building by renovation architects Beyhan Karahan and Associates.

The renovation also preserves and enhances the Art Deco architectural details of the library, which was designed in the 1930s. (Construction was delayed until after World War II; Mann first opened its doors in 1952.)

"You have faculty members come in who remember the original building, and students who say, 'This is extraordinarily elegant' -- having no idea that this elegance existed behind closed doors all these years," said Mann Library Director Janet McCue.

On the top two floors of Mann, the Department of Plant Biology's Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium, faculty offices, labs and classrooms also have been part of the renovation and will be reoccupied beginning in October, McCue said. The Hortorium's research facilities also include a library, conservatory and herbarium with a collection of 845,000 plant specimens.

An exhibition gallery on the second floor, still under construction, will showcase class projects by students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Human Ecology, and occasional art exhibits.

"One of our goals has been to connect science and art," McCue said.

The first exhibit, opening Sept. 18, is "Visualizing Meaning," an art installation by Jenifer Wightman, inspired by charts and graphs personally recommended by Cornell staff and faculty.

"In the 1930s and '40s, Albert Mann [who died before his namesake library was built] saw this as the education center of the upper campus," McCue said. "The library is a neutral spot that fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and engagement."

That has been part of Mann Library's mission since it was conceived seven decades ago. One of the library's original goals was the consolidation of materials and collections housed in the former Stone and Roberts halls and in several smaller departmental libraries.

Services and features unique to Mann Library include the Ellis Collection of "cultural reading" and special collections on bees and beekeeping, plant pathology, "The Language of Flowers" (Victorian-era culture) and more. At the circulation desk, patrons can check out everything from laptops and digital camcorders to umbrellas.

Just off the main lobby, the Manndible Café will offer a menu of locally grown food. Patrons can find another kind of sustenance in the daily haiku and tanka poems posted near the New Books section. The poetry feature, a 20-year tradition at Mann, is the brainchild of access services supervisor Tom Clausen. "He wanted to add another touch of beauty to the stacks," McCue said.

For more about the renovation, including a virtual tour, visit http://www.openhouse.mannlib.cornell.edu/.