(The Beacon)
By Kathryn Walters, Staff Writer walters14@up.edu
Major construction on the W. Wilson Clark Memorial Library will finish on schedule, with a tentative completion date of late July to early August.
According to Drew Harrington, dean of The Library, most of the large deconstruction and construction processes are complete.
"It's really starting to look how it's going to look," she said. "Now, we're starting to see things like tile in bathrooms, paint on the walls. It's really starting to look like what we imagined."
Smaller projects, like installing glass panels and windows, railings and wood ceilings, still need to be taken care of before the move-in process begins. Harrington estimates that by June, they will have clearance to move in the books, and by mid-July, furniture and other equipment will be be included.
With the opening of The Library, there will be many new resources for students. Although the number of volumes will stay at about 250,000, there will be 19 study rooms, twice as many as were in the old Library. Half of these rooms will have interactive technology, where students can plug in their laptops or tablets to an overhead monitor to display projects.
"It's a very different kind of set-up, much more efficient, much more affordable and taking advantage of newer technology," Harrington said.
The new Library will also have 50 new computers for student use, as well as more power stations for students to charge their laptops and other electronics.
Harrington said even though the new Library will present many challenges for staff and students as the kinks of the new building and facilities are worked out, she hopes it will please everyone in the end.
"People take good care of spaces that are worth caring about," she said. "So I certainly hope that this will inspire a sense of pride and a sense of wanting to take good care and be good stewards of this space that we've waited so long for."
(The Beacon)
