WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Thomas S. and Harvey D. Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) is on schedule to open to the public on Aug. 7.

The WALC houses 27 collaborative active learning classrooms.

After the spring 2017 semester, the building will consolidate six of the nine science libraries to form the Library of Engineering and Science in the heart of the Purdue campus.

The center will be a daily academic destination for approximately 5,000 students and faculty. For more background information visit www.lib.purdue.edu/walc/.

The 164,000-square-foot facility will house 27 rooms designed for active learning, a pedagogical approach that aims to achieve a greater student-centered learning environment by incorporating active and collaborative learning.

The classrooms will become study spaces after classes end.The building also features a Grand Reading Room with large windows that provide a view of the Bell Tower, as well as a full-service Au Bon Pain café and bakery.

After finals week, Libraries faculty and staff in the Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS); Engineering; Life Sciences; Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences; and Physics libraries will begin the process of moving books and materials from their current locations on the West Lafayette campus to the new WALC or to other locations on campus. More information about how faculty, students and others will retrieve materials from the closed libraries this summer will be forthcoming from Purdue Libraries.

The Chemistry; EAPS; Life Sciences; Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences; and Physics libraries will close at 5 p.m. May 5; the Engineering Library will close at 5 p.m. May 6.

As essential study hubs for summer classes, the remaining libraries will remain open. That list includes the Archives and Special Collections; the Black Cultural Center; the Humanities, Social Science and Education (HSSE) Library; John W. Hicks Undergraduate Library; Mathematical Sciences Library; Aviation Technology Library; Veterinary Medical Library; and Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics.

More updates will be provided on the Purdue Libraries' homepage at www.lib.purdue.edu.

Writer: Megan Huckaby, 765-496-1325, mhuckaby@purdue.edu

Source: Teresa Koltzenburg, director of strategic communication for Purdue Libraries, 765-494-0069

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JajjmZ6NfUI