The West Virginia University LibrariesWeb team has created an e-book version ofThe Charles C. Wise Library: A Retrospectiveby WVU College of Law student Luke Boso.

The newly-published digital book is available through the MountainLynx Catalog of the WVU Libraries or athttp://www.libraries.wvu.edu/history/wise.pdf.

The book, published in 2006, presents the story of the library as atremendous setting for learningand contains photographs documenting the librarys growth from 1931 to 2006.

Boso, a Morgantown native, earned a degree in English at WVU .

In his tribute to the library, the author compiles information from 53 sources, ranging from articles published in 1930 in The Daily Athenaeum to interviews in 2004 with librarians and WVU Provost Gerald Lang after the latest renovation was completed.

The book features facts such as the cost of the historic library buildings and their capacities. For example, the original library in Stewart Hall cost $116,000 and was built to house 20,000 volumes and 150 readers.

The Wise Library, originally costing $450,000, was rededicated in October 2003 after an extensive renovation project. Renovations included restoration of 1930s wood furniture, but with a twist. Data ports enabling students to connect to the Internet are hidden in the tops of antique wooden reading tables in the Milano and Robinson reading rooms.

In digital format, the 32-page book is easy to click through in Adobe Acrobat Reader and has large black and white and color photos on eight-inch pages.