Like most buildings, physical library buildings age over time. Both the outside and inside of a facility shows wear and tear over time and requires refurbishment to meet the needs of today’s society, very similar to the wear and tear of your home resulting in the need for renovation. There has been a dramatic increase in renovating and expanding existing libraries as well as building new ones over the past decade. This is occuring with all types of libraries — school, public, college, and university.
Challenges regarding having enough space as well as usable space are prominent in the world of university libraries. Why is this? Many universities are decades if not hundreds of years old. Collections of books, manuscripts, media, etc. are added as new information is produced. University library collections differ from school or public library collections which are smaller and make popular reading material available. In comparison, faculty require access to what is refered to as “deep” collections, meaning that professors doing research, particularly those in the humanities and social sciences, study subject areas in depth. There is also a growing trend for faculty to engage in cross-disciplinary research where other subject areas are explored in combination with the researcher’s primary area of study. Doing original research is the way for society to create new knowledge and to create new knowledge we need access to what has happened before us. As such, libraries in academic institutions select items that go into their collections very carefully and rarely weed or de-accession titles. The result? Expanding collections that may have started more than 100 years ago and have simply run out of the space. To meet the pressing issue of what we refer to as “stack migration” (i.e., adding more book stacks in the library to the point where it reaches maximum capacity), libraries create active storage facilities to be able to continue to house important works needed for research and scholarship. At this point in time, 189 years after the founding of SLU, Pius has reached the milestone of being over capacity in regards to collections. Pius Library was built in 1959 to hold 1 million books. This year (2007) we reached 1.4 million books, or 400,000 books over the original design of the building. The University is in process of locating a library storage facility so that we can make better use of the space we have.
As we are working on storage, the library faculty and staff continue to collaborate with other entities on campus in order to develop a “one-stop-shop” for students and faculty to search for, locate, and analyze information, as well as obtain assistance in producing new knowledge. We are excited that over the past 12 months we have been able to renovate some areas of Pius Library to accommodate the academic needs of our students and research and scholarship needs of our faculty. An underutilized browsing area on the main floor was transformed into a cafe in November 2006. Cafe Libros has bec0me the “hot spot” for everyone on campus to meet, chat, grab a coffee or sandwich and continue with their day, whether it be on another part of campus or doing research in the Library. The University’s new Testing Center and Undergraduate Writing Center Satellite location will open for the Fall 2007 semester. A collaborative project between the University Libraries, the University Writing Center, and the Affirmative Action & Diversity Office, both centers meet the increase demands of students seeking assistance. The Undergraduate Writing Center Satellite is in the perfect location. Undergrads can work with Writing Center staff to improve their writing skills within arms length of books, electronic resources, and library faculty. (Pius Library began hosting the Graduate Writing Center in 2006). The University-wide Testing Center is the location for students to take exams if they require special accommodations and/or if they missed an exam in class. Pius Library is able to host both centers in areas that were not appropriate to house collections, but were appropriate for collaborations that were a match with the type of resources and services that we offer.
Re-vitalizing the space of Pius Library will continue to occur as we work through implementing the University Libraries Strategic Plan. We appreciate and welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
