Construction on addition of Sci-Tech library ahead of schedule
The large concrete wall of the Cazier Science and Technology Library demonstrates the progress that was made by on-going construction during the summer months.
The construction was delayed last year due to weather, John Elsweiler, associate director for public services, said. However, the construction company, Jacobs Construction, made up for lost time during the summer, and are now three or four weeks ahead of schedule, Elsweiler said.
Completion of the library is expected to be August 2005, Elsweiler said, however the library will not be completely open for student access until January or May 2006.
Students on campus have noticed differences with the library. Anthony Nichols, a senior majoring in math and statistics said he has seen the construction since day one.
“I think it’s cool. Anything that can be centralized and put into one place,” Nichols said. “I tutor in the library a lot. It seems like in a two week period the sky went dark on the second and third floors because there are walls were there used to be windows.”
Nick Peterson, a senior majoring in accounting, said he thinks the changes have occurred slowly.
“It has progressed, but it is taking quite awhile,” Peterson said and also recognized some benefits with have only one library. “It will be a lot easier, because you don’t have to look for a book in both places.”
Certain areas will be open for use in Fall 2005, Elsweiler said, and rooms will start to be turned over for student access throughout the semester.
Library employees and staff are excited about the plans to combine the two libraries, Elsweiler said.
“It will really make the library have a place on campus,” Elsweiler said.
Private fundraising is on-going to support the addition to the Sci-Tech Library, Kent Clark, director of development libraries and instructional support, said.
“We are really just getting off the ground and getting the word out,” Clark said about fundraising efforts.
There is a difference in costs, Clark said, with what the Utah legislature has approved for funding and what the actual cost will be. The exact amount of what is needed is unknown, he said, because the costs are continually changing.
“We would like to raise a million dollars over the course of this fiscal year,” Clark said. “If we raise more, we’ve got a purpose for it.”
Early completion of concrete work by the construction company has saved the university $432,000, which is “going to help close the gap,” Clark said.
Fundraising efforts include individuals, corporations and foundations “who have an interest in improving the educational experience for our students,” Clark said.
Certain rooms in the new building will be named after individuals or corporations who have donated, Clark said, and currently the library has five rooms named.
The Merrill Library will no longer be in use once the Sci Tech is completed, Elsweiler said. There is no more space within the library and it has been deemed unsafe.
“There are more potential hazards to it for an earthquake that would cause life-threatening situations,” Elsweiler said. “It no longer really has the functionality that we need for a library.”
The Utah Legislature agreed the Merrill Library is a hazard and approved the funding for construction, he said.
The new library will incorporate a cafe, twice the size of the existing one in the Merrill Library, and will be equipped with an information commons area, with 150 computers intermixed with seating and studies areas, Elsweiler said.
“We don’t want it to look like a lab,” Elsweiler said, “we want it to be inviting and not real sterile.”
Unique to the new library will be the automated storage and retrieval system, Elsweiler said. This program will incorporate a storage area for volumes of books, and will use a robotic arm to retrieve journals requested on the computer system, he said.
Utah State University is the first in Utah to use this system, Elsweiler said. Other organizations, such as Dell, use the system, he said, but USU is the first to incorporate a shelving system rather than bins.
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu