Library renovations planned for summer

Courtesy of UT Facilities and Construction

This floor plan of he second floor of Carlson Library shows he space undergoing renovations from a 2014 facilities plan. The orange space represents the area where renovations are still unfinished. The red lined area is he existing student information commons.

After discussions of renovations to the library for the past six years, Carlson Library will be undergoing a $3 million, multi-year renovation plan beginning this May.

Phase one of the plan is to renovate the third and fourth floors of the library, which will be closed from May 9 until August 15 for construction.

“The library is a resource for the entire academic community,” said John Barrett, UT provost. “We are trying to make that resource robust and welcoming so that students and faculty use it and have the tools that they need for what they are trying to do research wise.”

The second phase of the renovations are going to finish the second floor renovations that have talked about since 2010.

The money for the renovations is coming from state capital fund.

“We’re going to create a lot of group and individualized study rooms on the third and fourth floors. That is something that students have really wanted and so it’s a good opportunity to be able to do that,” said Barbara Floyd, interim director of University Libraries.

The third and fourth floors are two of the quietest places in the library and the most common floors to study on. As Floyd pointed out, though, it is not incredibly inviting. The hope of the renovations is to make the library a more welcoming place.

The walls around the elevators will be torn down so the third and fourth floor will more closely resemble the second floor. New furniture, carpeting and fresh paint will replace the old brown and off-white colors.

“The color pallet is sort of a blue and gray, muted, quiet feel. It will be a much quieter color scheme than the second floor,” Floyd said.

Because of this, the collections on the third and fourth floor will not be available between May 9 until end of the project unless checked out by May 6 at 6 p.m. However, if a student or faculty member forgets to check out a book prior to May 6, Floyd said that Ohio Link will be available.

“We have about 300,000 to 500,000 books and journals between these two floors which we cannot possibly move,” Floyd said. “We will be shrink wrapping the books to prevent damage.”

The next phases will involve changing the façade of one side of the library by taking off the brick and replacing it with glass and focusing on the second floor. The fifth floor, which was renovated in 2010 and cost $75,000, will not be touched. However, Floyd said the plans regarding the other phases depends on the cost of phase one.

“Next, the plan is to do the first and second floor, primary among that is completing the second floor renovations,” Floyd said.

Renovation plans are not new for the library, although the plans for the different floors have had various success. According to a UT press release in 2007, the first floor of the library successfully finished its $3.7 million renovations then.

Conversely, the second floor of Carlson was supposed to undergo renovations to transform into a Center for Innovative Design and Technology beginning in 2013. A 2012 UT press release stated, “The groundwork for this center is expected to be complete by spring 2013.”

According to Heather Klatt, a student alumna of the class of 2013 and previous Student Government member, talks about the second floor renovations began around 2010 and it seemed to be under construction during much of her four years at UT.

The second floor is still incomplete, with several tables surrounded by nothing but unpainted walls, cement flooring and an unfinished ceiling.

An article published in the IC in 2011 quotes Benjamin Pryor, who was vice provost and dean of the College of Innovative Learning, University Libraries and Learning Ventures at the time, as saying the goal was to have second floor renovations completed by 2013.

The plan for the second floor was to build “more group study rooms, learning spaces for collaboration and study and art centers for student display,” the IC article states.

According to a 2014 floor plan from Facilities and Construction, over 50 percent of the second floor was currently under renovation. This section is still closed off to students with signs that read “Construction area: Do not enter.”

Though work was done to improve the second floor in that time period, much of it was left vacant and remains that way today. However, Floyd said finishing that is number one on the to-do list for the next phases.

“The project overlapped the change in provosts,” said Jason Toth, Associate Vice President of Facilities and Construction at UT. “At the time, the new provost did not support the plans being considered.”

Barrett was not interim provost at the time, and had no comment on the previous unfinished renovations.

“We are, of course, anxious to finish the second floor, but renovations are desperately needed on the third and fourth floor,” Floyd said. “The work planned will make for a much improved study environment.”

Since those floors have not been renovated since Carlson was built in 1972, it is of higher importance to work on them, according to Floyd.

Barrett said that though phase one will be completed in the summer, the next few phases will be completed throughout the year, so students should expect construction in the library.

Barrett added that along with the construction, you can also expect longer library hours starting next fall.

“I’m really pleased that the university is investing in the library,” Floyd said. “It’s nice to see that the administration values the library and wants to make it a better place. When the students come back in August it will be a whole different area.”

“I’m enthused to hear that they are redoing those floors this summer,” said Jessica Tonti, a second-year nursing student. “More study rooms will be beneficial and hopefully the modifications made will excite and attract more students to utilize the library.”

In addition to the added study rooms, there will also be individual study desks and lockers for the students to lock up their personal belongings.

“I’m glad they are redoing the third and fourth floors, but I hope they provide enough individual study desks,” said Eric Brown, a third-year engineering student. “I don’t think it should be too much like the second floor, though, because some people like to study in a more secluded area.”