Southampton - Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., President of Stony Brook University, and State Assemblyman Fred Thiele were among those on hand to inaugurate the new campus library at Stony Brook Southampton. Dr. Mary Pearl, Dean and Vice President of Stony Brook Southampton, officiated at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

In addition to a spacious reading room, high-tech group work areas, a computer lab, flexible classroom space, private study rooms, a vast selection of electronic resources and the campus Writing Center, the innovative LEED-certified building houses the Pollock-Krasner Study Center, the 2,000-volume art reference library and research collections of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, the former home and studio of abstract expressionist painters Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.

The Study Center originally was in the house itself, located in the Springs section of East Hampton, but it outgrew the small 19th century building, which is a National Historic Landmark. Access was limited because the property is open for public tours from May through October. The Study Center's new home, which has ample room for the books, exhibition catalogs, audio and video collections, documentary archives, microfilm and photograph collections, will make these resources available to the student body and the general public.

"This is a major step forward in the Study Center's development," said Pollock-Krasner House director Helen A. Harrison. "Everyone from elementary school students to postgraduates will find resources here for the study of modern American art, and especially the renowned East End art community. Researchers from all over the world have used our collections. Now they'll be able to work in comfort, and with the support of 21st century technology."

In addition to abundant natural light, pleasant seating and study areas, and total wireless access, the lofty main reading room boasts an impressive 1957 painting, "Dragonfly," by the late Robert Richenburg, a former East Hampton resident known for his richly textured gestural abstractions. The painting was a gift to the Study Center from Ron and Ellin Delsener.