Grant funds new Ellis Library
The research grant is part of the For All We Call Mizzou
fund-raising campaign.
Published Oct. 5, 2004
MU officials unveiled a recently renovated portion of Ellis Library on Friday ' part of a $1 million donation from a Kansas City businessman.
James B. Nutter donated $1 million to create a new information center where students can engage in various methods of research.
The James B. Nutter Sr. Family Information Commons is geared toward offering students more options for conducting research. It offers a space where group-oriented discussion can take place.
"The new center is a great space for students to do research either in groups or alone," MU spokesman Jeremy Diener said. "Students can engage in all types of study in one central location."
The renovation covers 25,000 square feet of library space and contains 103 computers in 75 workstations. There is seating for more than 300 people, in both open and enclosed study areas. The space contains study areas divided by frosted glass panels with the names of prominent Americans on them.
The facility also provides high-speed Internet access, e-mail, wireless laptop access and printing and scanning services. Library staff members, as well as Information and Access Technology Services staff, also will be available to assist students.
Nutter said he gave MU the grant because funding the library was the "best way to help."
"I was very pleased, I think the information center turned out as well as our family could have hoped," Nutter said.
Nutter also gave an additional $250,000 for a book endowment to honor his father, Frank Clark Nutter, who he said instilled in him the value of libraries.
"Nutter had a passion for books, so he set up an endowment to provide the library with books from prominent American authors, including Irish author James Joyce," Diener said.
Nutter is the founder and former chief executive of James B. Nutter & Co., one of the nation's largest privately owned mortgage-banking firms.
The grant is part of the "For All We Call Mizzou" campaign, which has raised $468 million so far for MU.
The campaign, which has a goal of $600 million, will run until 2006.
