PEA Library to See Renovations

Modern archives with automated shelves, inviting new study spaces and hot coffee served in a bustling cafe are all among the ideas the Library Renewal Committee is considering as it seeks to revamp and update the library.Other renewal ideas include the addition of group study rooms, a better system of displaying the library’s Special Collections and designated teaching spaces. “People are really interested in a cafe. People are asking for more group study spaces,” Scanlon said. “People are asking for a more welcoming, comfortable feeling, which is hard to do in a building like this, with all the brick and concrete.”Though it is lauded as an architectural masterpiece and center for research on campus, the Class of 1945 Library is turning forty-two this month and has started to show signs of wear, from a leaking roof and trashed carpets to an overfilled archive. To address these problems and to craft a vision for the future of the library, the Facilities Planning Committee drafted a charge and selected members for the Library Renewal Committee in May of 2012. The committee has been meeting with architects and engineers to come up with a proposal for the trustees.Academy Librarian Gail Scanlon has been investigating the use of library spaces in other institutions, and has observed a trend towards servicing customers. “There seems to be less use of valuable space for stacks and more use of valuable space for people. We need to find a way to create the best space possible for people and resources,” Scanlon said. “That may mean consolidating the books and journals in spaces that are less desirable for people to work in but well suited for collections.”Understanding the structural constraints will help guide the renovation process, she added. “We need to hear from these sub-contractors and engineers [about] what we could possibly do and where, and then we can say which ideas could work and where. Ideally we want something [planned] by this coming January, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen,” she said.The project has been placed on the 10 Year Capital Plan. Funding will be derived from alumni and class donations, the school’s capital budget and an Institutional Advancement campaign. The original Renewal Committee charge stated that the institutional review should be completed by May 2013, but several issues pushed back the deadline. According to Scanlon, the second timeline moved the committee work start to January 2013 and the deliverables to January 2014, but Hassan’s strategic plan pushed the project end date back another year to 2014.“Delays in any project are normal. When the original charge was issued in May 2012 finding a time to get everyone together was nearly impossible with the end of the school year and the fact that many committee members aren't on campus during the summer,” Scanlon said.The cafe idea was prompted by the trend of in-library cafes that swept through the country five years ago. Though the engineers have not completed their analysis of plumbing and structure, according to Scanlon, most libraries cafes are on the ground floor or basement. If the idea is adopted, Scanlon believes it will attract more people to the library and entice them to stay longer.  “Later in the evenings, students wouldn’t have to leave to go get food,” she said. “They can go downstairs, take a break, and return to their work very easily. It’s also a great meeting place—there’s good seating, good lighting, and it would be comfortable.”Renewal Committee member and English instructor Ellen Wolff believes that the library is a valuable resource for campus, and endorses the goals behind the project’s initiation. “I think the goals of the project are commendable. The goal is to help make the library more central to the daily life of the school, and it would be crazy not to get behind such an effort given what a gem that place is both in terms of the collection and the building as a work of art,” Wolff said. “I think more group study space is an excellent idea—it is important that we also remain devoted to maintaining individual study space, because it is so hard to find a distraction-free place on this campus, to focus, to get in the groove and really think, read, study and write for extended periods of time.”Upper Paige Harouse believes that as long as it does not become a noise disturbance, the cafe would be beneficial to her schoolwork and her focus on research projects. “When I’m writing a big history paper, like my 331, my workflow wouldn’t be disrupted by getting up and going somewhere else like dining hall to have to eat. You can get your coffee fix and it also might help if your efficiency is dwindling,” Harouse said.Wolff questions the cafe idea. “We have two dining halls, we have a grill, and, although I know that is the way the culture seems to be tending—‘build a cafe and they will come’—I don’t think it’s necessary,” she said. “Building a cafe would provide another resource for students for whom money is not an object—a resource that would be less useful to those students for whom money is an object. Who needs another one of those in our world?”Senior Kyle Alexander echoed Wolff’s sentiments and added that a cafe would be redundant. “I don’t see the point of adding a café—the library is already next to dining hall, so most people go after they eat dinner, anyway,” he said. “The library serves its purpose of providing resources as is.”Some students believe that the atmosphere of the cafe would help them to work in a stress-free environment. “I think it's a great idea. It will not only provide an unique academic atmosphere, but also a new social space for students,” lower Jun Park said.  “I believe that it will attract students to the library because it will allow them to relax and get work done all at the same time.”Upper Annie Choi, however, felt that the social nature of a cafe could easily morph into a distraction for those who use the library as a quiet place to work. “Its a great idea as long as it won’t lead to too many people conversing and making noise in a study area, “ Choi said. “It could be distracting if people started grouping in the cafe.”According to Scanlon, until the status of the renovations project can be determined, the library has been implementing small changes that align with the committee’s vision. “There are things we can do to make the library a more welcoming building and we've already started that,” Scanlon said. “We've moved some furniture around, added pillows, brought in a white board for suggestions, invited arts groups to perform in the building. For other types of projects we need to work with Facilities to see if we could try out new lighting fixtures in one part of the building, install better signage or re-carpet high traffic areas first.”