Groundbreaking ceremonies to be held for new library Thursday
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new library, which will be conjoined with the Science and Technology Library, will take place Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Darrell Hart, assistant vice president of Facilities, said the event will be held on the east side of the Sci-Tech, and faculty and students are invited. After the groundbreaking, he said, there will be a reception in the Sci-Tech’s lobby that is also
open-invitation.
There will be a few speakers at the groundbreaking, Hart said, one of them being Utah’s first lady, Jacalyn Leavitt.
Linda Wolcott, vice provost for Libraries and Instructional Support, said other speakers will include President Kermit L. Hall, Provost Stan Albrecht, Rep. Loraine Pace, R-Logan, this year’s Associated Students of USU President Celestial Bybee, and herself.
Hart said the process for a new library started a long time ago, but the programming effort started in November 2001. Then, in its most recent session, the Legislature provided USU with $42 million in bonds to build a new library to replace the Merrill Library, which was built in 1930.
After the groundbreaking, Hart said, the university will begin fencing off the area east of the Sci-Tech.
“A number of facilities will be relocated,” he said, along with water, sewage and electrical lines.
The Computer Center building north of the Sci-Tech will be demolished, Hart said, and will not be replaced.
“This is a big project,” he said. “It’s huge for the campus.”
The new library will be situated northeast of the Sci-Tech, Hart said. The two libraries will be combined, and the northern wall of the Sci-Tech will be removed, he said.
Brent Windley, director of Facilities Planning, said the construction won’t be as bad as that during the tunnel project.
He also said the Merrill Library will be torn down toward the end of construction on the new library, and he said he thinks the area will just be grassy. Eventually, he assumes, another building will be built there, but there “are no plans yet,” he said.
Windley said the main reason the Merrill is being replaced is because there would be “serious seismic” problems if there were an earthquake.
“The Merrill was a three-phase building, and the three parts of the building would move differently in an earthquake,” he said.
Wolcott said she’s very excited about the new building.
“It’ll be a really great addition and a boost to the campus,” she said. “It’ll change how people look at libraries.”
Wolcott said a name has not yet been decided upon for the new library. She said it will all be one building, but doesn’t know if the new addition will have a different name or not.
She said she hopes construction will be completed during the summer of 2005 and that the library will be available for use starting fall semester that year.
-emilieholmes@cc.usu.edu