Lane Reading Room Renovated

Furnishing upgrades and electrical improvements to the Lane Reading Room in Cecil H. Green Library have been completed with generous donor support. Designed by San Francisco-based architect Arthur Brown Jr. in the monumental style preferred for collegiate libraries in the early 1900s, the imposing and inspirational space has often been described as the grandest of rooms at Stanford.

The project team, managed by Senior Associate Director of Facilities Cedric A. Whigham, revised the seating arrangement and overhauled the electrical system to meet the demand for new computer tables and monitors. Specifically, a line of stand-up desks with monitors have been added to in the east and west ends of the Lane Reading Room. Padding was added to all the seats in the room for the comfort of readers at the massive oaken tables.

“Cedric and his colleagues are to be commended for their patience in obtaining permits for the new outlets and for their ingenuity in improving the lighting from far above the tables!” said University Librarian Michael A. Keller. “This is the most heavily used reading room in Green Library, frequented by students for the duration of its typical hours of 8:00 a.m. until midnight.”

The Lane Reading Room was named in honor of Melvin and Joan Lane in recognition of their support for the library’s reconstruction after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Its laid-glass ceiling, perhaps its most impressive feature, was restored after being blacked out since World War II. Its surrounding shelves hold core reference works in the humanities and its walls display portraits of Stanford’s past presidents.

Melvin B. Lane ’44 (1922-2007) worked for nearly forty years at Lane Publishing Company and at Sunset Magazine, purchased in 1928 by their father. The archive of Sunset Magazine’s records and publications is available in the adjacent Field Room to researchers in the Department of Special Collections. Melvin was also dedicated to the cause of natural conservation in California, serving as the first chairman of both the California Coastal Commission and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

As philanthropists, Melvin & Joan Lane were among Stanford’s most steadfast supporters after the damaging earthquake in 1989, particularly for repairs to Memorial Church and the Quad’s History Corner, now the Lane History Corner. Their participation in other endeavors at Stanford – Melvin was a trustee – and their contributions to community organizations and cultural institutions are innumerable.