The Marriott Library will soon be more resistant to earthquakes, but the structural changes are only the beginning.
The outside panels will come off of the building, which should create space with more natural lighting, said Heidi Brett, library spokesperson. Brett added she hopes the library is made to feel more open and airy. Beyond those outside changes, many parts of the inside of the library will be transformed.
The library will renovate its collection storage, meeting spaces and technology areas to bring the library up-to-date with students’ current and future demands.
“Our goal is to make the library feel like a small branch library, but have the wonderful resources of our large research library,” said Barbara Cox, coordinator of library selectors in the collections department.
One way the library hopes to accomplish that is to place many different features in one area, so students can access what they need without having to trek across the library multiple times.
A new study area on the second floor will have round computer pods so students can do group projects together and the technical support staff will be on-hand in that area. Brett also said the library administration may open a caf in the area as well.
“It will be the noisy place of the library,” she said.
Included in the commons area will be reserve desks and a desk where students can pick up materials they retrieve from the Automated Storage and Retrieval System, which will be installed in May 2006.
The system will be an addition to the current building and will sit in the area currently used as a loading dock. Library users will access the system’s materials by calling up a book or other item online and clicking on it. Then, a crane on a track in the system will pull the item and deliver it to a desk. A librarian will then give it to the user.
“At most, that entire process will take less than 15 minutes,” Cox said.
For the first year of construction, none of the shelves will change, but by May 2006, students can expect to see major changes in the stacks, she said.
The system will shelve 1 million items that are not often used, such as old editions of journals, books at least 38 years old that use the Dewey Decimal system and items currently in protected areas, Cox said.
“They won’t be things that people can currently find on the shelves,” she said.
However, the library administration knows it’s important to keep materials users like to browse on the shelves, Cox said.
In addition to the new technology study area and the automated retrieval system, eight more high-tech teaching rooms will open, in addition to small group study areas that are fully wired for Internet connectivity, Brett said.
There will also be a traditional grand reading room where students can quietly study.
To keep up-to-date on library construction, visit www.lib.utah.edu and click on the Marriott Library Building Project link on the right side of the page.
