Library continues to undergo renovations

By Kurt Esposito
Assistant Campus Editor

The Humanities, Social Science and Education library is going through renovations to keep up with developing technology.

Nancy Hewison, a professor of library science and director of Administrative Services, said it will be a library that will meet the changing needs of students as scholarly information is changing.

The library, located on the first, second and third floors of the Stewart Center, is going through a two-year long renovation to incorporate multi-media resources with the standard print texts.

Hewison said there is a growing number of students who need to work with multi-media applications and the library will be better equipped to meet the needs of those students.

Mark Tucker, a Humanities, Social Science and Education librarian, said, "It'll benefit students in several ways. We will be able to bring together in one place print resources, online resources and our library faculty who have expertise in subject disciplines to support student research."

The renovation will occur in two phases; the first phase, consisting of the second and third floors, is underway. The second, consisting of the first floor, is planned to start in 2002.

The second and third floors are being repainted and remodeled to include study areas, study carrels, group study rooms and offices for the library staff.

The second floor will also include an intra-library loan shipping room and a microfilm station. The microfilm section has equipment that can digitize the microfilm so it can be viewed on a computer screen.

To take advantage of the small amount of windows, the study areas will be moved next to the windows so students can look out onto the campus.

The bookshelves are being repositioned to run perpendicular to the lighting fixtures so that more light can shine directly on the books.

In order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the aisles between the bookshelves are becoming wider. The Act requires all aisles in public libraries be at least 36 inches wide in order to accommodate people who have to use wheelchairs.

The restrooms are also being remodeled to become more handicapped accessible. The first floor restrooms will also be available to handicapped patrons of the Loeb Playhouse.

All of the tables and chairs have been removed from the second and third floors, but students are still allowed access to those floors to obtain books. The contractors working on those floors are working in closed sections and are keeping noise down to a minimum. The contractors also place plastic sheets on the bookshelves to protect them from dust and they vacuum at the end of every day.

However, students can still expect to encounter noise and dust when they go to those floors.

For a few days this summer, students will be denied access to the second and third floors while the contractors work on the ceilings and lighting fixtures, but the library staff will makes runs to those floors to retrieve books.

The first floor is undergoing the largest renovation; it will include a public works station with access to resources online and a direct link to an Electronic Reference Center, as well as computer pods, research cubicles, group study rooms and periodicals.

The Center for Scholarly Communication will feature eight stations where students can convert print resources into digital resources.

It will also include a copy center with copy machines, an office for tech support and a vending machine that sells disks and CD-ROMs.

The entrance and check-out counter will be moved from their current location to underneath the mural in the Stewart Center lobby.

A larger version of the art gallery will be moved to the current entrance of the library. The art gallery will feature windows so that students can view featured artwork from the library.

The elevator and all of the staircases will become more visible so students will be able to find them easier.

Part of the first floor will feature raised access flooring, which is raised 18 inches off the floor and enables the staff to run all of the cords and cables under the floor. If the library ever needs to move the location of any of the computers, this will make it easier.

The renovation of the second and third floors began on Jan 1. and is expected to be completed by Nov. 15. Then from Nov. 15 through December the operations of the first floor will be transferred to the second and third floors. The second and third floors will then serve as the library as the first floor is being renovated.

The second phase is scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 2002, and completed by Nov. 15, 2002. The library staff will spend the following month relocating the resources back to the first floor. The library will reopen in January 2003 and the grand reopening is scheduled for April 2003.

The renovation costs $5.2 million, most of which came from state funding. Walter Veon and the late Saraellen Veon donated $1.2 million; the Electronic Reference Center will be named after them.

Due to the renovation, the location of the bookshelves will constantly be shifted. Students wanting to know where to go to find a specific shelf can go to www.lib.purdue.edu/hsse/locate_book.html, to locate the shelf. The web-site is updated along with the movement of the shelves.

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Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

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