The Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library has been given a fall makeover. Seventeen sculptures dangle from the ceiling of the Library’s west wing reading room—sea creatures fashioned by Australia’s indigenous artists out of plastic fishing nets that have been lost or discarded to drift in the sea, killing aquatic wildlife and fouling coral reefs. The artists’ intention is to make the public aware of the growing ecological disaster of “ghost nets” and other plastic pollutants. The exhibition “Defending the Ocean with Art”—sponsored by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum and UVA’s Department of Environmental Sciences—is featured in the UVA Today article “Ghost Nets to Art: Exhibition Raises Awareness of Ocean Litter,” and will be on view through Jan. 7.

But artwork isn’t all that’s new in the library. Beneath the representations of marine life in the west wing, the Library has added comfortable chairs so students can study and confer with each other in groups; in the east wing there are inviting niches for quiet study; and in the central computing area there are new public workstations. So come to Brown any time and check out the library’s artwork and amenities!

The west wing reading room of the Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library

The library’s east wing, with graceful new cubicles for quiet study

New workstations in the central computing area