Gelardin New Media Center Funded


Romy and Jacques Gelardin

A recent major gift to the library by Jacques P. Gelardin (B'69) will fund the creation of the Jacques P. Gelardin New Media Center for Collaborative Learning and Research in Lauinger Library. The Gelardin Center will enable researchers to convert into digital format any material collected by the Library and then use the converted material to present their research findings in many different ways.

No longer do students-or for that matter, faculty-just "write papers." Instead, they are expected to make presentations in class and at conferences, often using video demonstrations or computer presentation software such as PowerPoint, and the Internet to present their research worldwide. Using tools of the new millennium, then, the Gelardin gift will advance scholarship in an all new way.

The library currently collects information in various formats: books, periodicals, manuscripts, computer files, multimedia CD-ROMs, photographs and slides, videotapes, sound recordings, microforms, and artwork. The Gelardin Center will manage the convergence of these media. Any ordinary two-dimensional materials can be converted to digital form, either by direct scanning or through photography. Similarly, videotapes and sound recordings can be digitized and then edited or altered using a variety of software and hardware. In addition to the Library's thousands of videotapes, audio CDs and cassettes and hundreds of multimedia CD-ROMs, the Gelardin Center will house more than 60 computer workstations. Part of the Picchi Electronic Information and Research Center, these workstations will be available for general purpose research and computing, with an additional 10 computers fitted with specialized peripherals such as flatbed scanners, slide scanners, CD-ROM recording devices, and audio and video equipment for creating high quality multimedia presentations. Seven soundproof booths will accommodate the recording and editing of audio and video works, to compose music and edit film.

Gelardin Center staff will support Georgetown University faculty and students in the use of these technologies in the Dubin Classroom, part of the Center. The Dubin Classroom, a memorial gift of the Dubin and Brown families, has 24 workstations for hands-on instruction and training.

Last June, Jacques Gelardin and his wife Romy were recognized for their generosity to the University by Father Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., at a special reception in London.