Augusta University commemorated the completion of the renovations to the Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D. Library, on Wednesday, at the school’s Health Sciences Campus on Laney Walker Boulevard.
Former Georgia governor and current University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue, Mayor Garnett Johnson, Georgia Reps. Barry Fleming, Brian Prince and Karlton Howard were among the guests at the ribbon-cutting event, celebrating the end of a refurbishment project that lasted over a year.
“The project has been in multiple phases,” said AU Dean of Libraries Brad Warren, the first to hold the position, beginning March of last year, when the second phase of the renovations had already been planned.
A new entrance on the Laney Walker side was built, and the entire second floor space was overhauled, with twice as many study rooms added. The first floor’s additions included spaces for tutoring, testing and health advising, including a creative technology lab with 3-D printers (used to build anatomical replicas) and a virtual reality room.
The first floor also has a museum-like exhibition of the history of the Medical College of Georgia, displaying archived artifacts such as a 113-year-old electrocardiogram, or EKG machine. There is even space, and plans for, adding a café to the library.
Warren said the university is negotiating with vendors, with the aim of opening a café by the fall semester.
“My interjection was essentially, ‘All right, we know this is going to turn out to be an amazing space… how can we really begin to turn this into a gathering place,’” said Warren, who encouraged embracing, rather than resisting, the student library as a kind of community space.
The library partnered with AU’s Medical Illustration Graduate Program to coordinate what will be an annual display of pieces by the graduating class.
“It feels great to be able to bring some more exposure, some more eyes, to the mission and goals that we have,” said Peter Naktin, a senior in the Medical Illustration program who has an illustration in the library’s exhibit.
Dr. Robert B. Greenblatt, who died in 1987 at age 81, was a professor at the Medical College of Georgia for nearly 40 years, 26 of them as the chairman of its Department of Endocrinology. He was also a renowned medical researcher and a pioneer in the development of sequential oral contraceptives.
“I spent a lot of hours here when I was a graduate student,” said Augusta University President Brooks Keel, who earned his Ph.D. in reproductive endocrinology at MCG. “I’d walk over here, and that was my time to catch up on the literature… all the journals were here.”
Keel underscored that his time at what is now the Greenblatt Library was a “key part” of his career as a graduate student, and he recalls the famed medical scholar for whom it’s now named, and lauded its modernized renovations.
“That is really as personal to me,” he said. “There’s a real sense of joy and pride.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
