Plans underway for new Merrill Library
Merrill Library replacement plans are moving forward rapidly.
Linda Wolcott, vice provost for Libraries and Instructional Support, said the current library has been plagued by potential safety problems intended for replacement for the past nine years. Now, the replacement project is top priority for the Utah Board of Regents and the Capital Facilities Subcommittee.
Utah State University is looking to receive $42 million for the project from the Legislature next year. It could begin construction on the replacement facility as soon as June, Wolcott said.
Plans for a new library are good news for students like Belinda Lopez, a junior studying public relations.
“It’s not as nice as the rest of the campus,” she said. “It’s got old carpet and it’s old.”
The state of Merrill Library causes professors who live outside of Cache Valley, like Peter Galderisi from political science, to seek information elsewhere.
“The library is not very efficient,” he said. “I use the University of Utah library for my own research.”
Wolcott said the problems with Merrill Library are not as much content-related as they are physical.
“There are no sprinkler systems. There isn’t any protection for people or the materials from fire,” she said. “The biggest life-safety issue is that none of these buildings were built to any kind of earthquake code.”
Engineers have inspected the library in the past and declared the building’s unique construction would create a substantial amount of damage, Wolcott said.
Provost Stan Albrecht made a presentation for the library Tuesday to the State Building Board. The numerous life-safety issues of the current facility were strongly emphasized in the fifteen-minute presentation, she said.
Along with safety issues, aesthetics will be a major consideration in construction of the new library.
Galderisi said, “I think there should be a more comfortable study environment.”
He used the libraries at Utah and the University of California – Santa Cruz as examples of facilities with “comfort zones.”
Wolcott said creating a home-like environment in the new library is something very important.
“We want to have a much more comfortable space for students to study in, a place where you can take your shoes off, put your feet up under you and sit in a comfortable chair,” she said. “It’s the direction that libraries are changing, we’re going to try and get away from being seen as a warehouse.”
The location of the new facility will play a large part in achieving aesthetic goals.
The library is slated to be an addition on the north side of the Cazier Science and Technology Library. Ideally, the two libraries will be combined into one, Wolcott said.
“We’re going to integrate it so that it’s one big building, instead of two buildings,” she said.
Ashley Stolworthy, a junior studying public relations, envisioned the ideal student-oriented library.
“I’d like to see more access to computers, updated books and cataloging systems, no dusty shelves, and more quiet study areas,” she said.
Wolcott said group study areas will be a significant part of the new library plans. There are also plans to include a multimedia production studio for students to add a new dimension to projects.
“If you want to put some video into an assignment, there’d be a place where you could record that video, edit it, or get assistance on editing multimedia projects,” she said.
A larger café is in store for the new facility, based on the early success of the Quad Side Café, Wolcott said.
“Right now the plan is to seat about 65 in the new café, about double the current size,” she said.
An architect and a contractor have been selected.
The contractor is Jacobsen Construction of Salt Lake City, which is also constructing the new engineering building on campus, Wolcott said.
The university must wait and see if the Legislature will allocate the $42 million required for the project.
“Right now we’re quite optimistic,” Wolcott said. “As long as the economy doesn’t go south too far, we’ll get it all.
If all goes well, the construction process will start in June, and Wolcott’s dream for the library serving as the intellectual center of the university will become a reality.
“I have a vision of where people very much engage in learning, not just coming to use something, but a gathering place, somewhere that has a social connection with the campus,” she said.
–str@cc.usu.edu