Library

Judaica Reading Commons Opens!

A room within the library with a red couch, a seminar table with several chairs, bookshelves, and a read carpet.

Recently completed renovations on the Goldfarb mezzanine level have transformed a formerly bleak room into the new Judaica Reading Commons. The space features warm, inviting coloring, a seminar table, comfortable seating and a glassboard (updated white board) intended to encourage collaborative work.

Located between the Judaica Reference Room and the main open space at the top of the stairs to the mezzanine, the Judaica Reading Room is designed to encourage a sense of community focused on the resources featured there, and throughout the mezzanine level.

In the near future, it will host book displays and programming geared towards two goals: 1) Bringing Jewish texts into conversation with writings from around the globe. A rotating focus on a variety of specific themes, such as "truth" (from the Brandeis motto) will highlight "great" books as a means of shaping values and framing lives, with Jewish books as an essential part of global literature. 2) Making basic information about Judaism and Jewishness, core elements of Brandeis' foundation story and history, accessible to the Brandeis community at large.

Please come enjoy using the space!