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itizens have historically shared common space at the heart of their community, a place to discuss the issues of the day and make decisions for the future. The Emerging Issues Commons will be the same kind of gathering place for North Carolina, where anyone can come, no matter what their background, or knowledge base is, and discuss what matters to them, to their neighbors, and to North Carolina as a whole. This is IEI’s everyday forum, where ideas can all be presented on equal ground.But the Commons is more than just a place to share ideas — it’s a place to solve problems.
Opening in the James B. Hunt, Jr. Library in 2012, the Commons will be a place in the library – and online – where people and communities can identify promising solutions, form networks, develop action plans, and get to work.
Within the space, the Emerging Voices area will inspire visitors with real stories from across North Carolina. Photographs, text and video will tell of North Carolina’s challenges – both past and present.
Visitors in the Emerging Connections area will use interactive data displays to unearth new relationships to North Carolina’s pressing challenges. Armed with information and inspiration, visitors will move to the Emerging Ideas space to being to address those challenges. Here, visitors will gather around digital roundtables to debate solutions and identify innovative new approaches. The virtual space will allow anyone, at their desk or on their mobile device, to access the Commons’ rich tools.
Scheduled for completion in 2012, the Hunt library will house collections from the colleges of engineering and textiles, and feature a state-of-the-art robotic book retrieval system. In addition to the basics — wireless connectivity and easy access to electrical power — the environment in the Hunt Library will be permeated with virtual browsing, video-conferencing, on-line room scheduling, collaborative projection, whiteboards, video walls, and technology-enabled furniture.
