Construction will commence this summer for a massive renovation to the current front entrance of D.H. Hill Library, which is scheduled for completion in fall 2020.
The renovations will affect the main entrance of the library that faces the Brickyard. Because of this, the main entrance to the building will be moved to the Hillsborough street entrance, which will open on Monday, May 13. Still, there will be a portion of the library that students cannot access.
Chris Johnson, facility planner at the university, talked about the construction that will be happening in the library.
“We’re going to cut a hole from the first floor to the second floor and from the second floor to the third floor to create a lobby near the entrance and we’re putting in a new grand staircase,” Johnson said. “Because of this, we’re temporarily relocating Hill of Beans and are combining it with The Creamery.”
A big aspect of this project is to create more space for the Tutorial Center to expand its resources for students and to facilitate a new tutorial model which would include larger groups of students.
“It’s about student retention,” Johnson said. “The Academic Success, Tutoring, and Writing Center are all tied to student retention rates, so the more they can expose these tutorial services to the general population, the better.”
Charlie Marshall, associate director of construction, said that these new additions to the library will benefit students who typically do not go to Centennial Campus to utilize Hunt Library’s resources.
“We’re creating what’s called a Data and Technology Commons for the library,” Marshall said. “Part of the conversion of the bookstacks is to create more digital resources and opportunities similar to what they have at Hunt Library. At Hunt, you have visualization tools that you don’t have here.”
This project will make resources commonly attributed to Hunt Library accessible to students who frequent Main Campus, making this technology available for students of all disciplines.
“The students on Centennial Campus [are] mostly in textiles and engineering, so students now in CHASS or College of Education will have access to these spaces on their part of campus,” Johnson said.
Marshall said that because there will be heavy construction in the Brickyard, students will be affected and rerouted to avoid construction areas. According to Marshall, events such as the Earth Fair will not be able to function in the same location during construction.
“There will be flagmen to guide all the pedestrian traffic through the Brickyard to make sure everything goes smoothly,” said Marshall.
Certain locations outside the library will also be closed as well, such as the terrace outside of the Atrium.
“Because we’re fencing a portion of the Brickyard, we’re taking about a quarter of the seating from the terrace and [relocating] it somewhere else in the Brickyard, so now students will be able to sit closer to the Brickyard,” Marshall said.
Multiple construction projects will be going on over the next few years in DH Hill Library, however this is anticipated to be the most drastic change to the library in the near future.
