Libraries Dean Patricia Steele is working to transform McKeldin Library from a morgue of dusty books to a cozy, laptop-friendly space where students can create their own collaborative study areas.
Steele, who took over the underfunded library system in September, is starting with McKeldin’s second floor but wants to reevaluate all seven floors of the campus’ signature library. The goal, she said, is to make McKeldin “stop one and one stop” for all things educational.
“Libraries were built to be stacks, not built to have human activities,” Steele said. “We’ve got to shift from book storage to having a place for students and faculty to study collaboratively.”
Library officials hope as soon as this summer that the second floor of McKeldin will be gutted to make way for “Terrapin Learning Commons,” which will have movable furniture, sound panels and whiteboards so groups of students can form their own study spaces.
The floor will also receive new carpet, paint and secure recharging stations where students can store their laptops. The private rooms flanking the floor will be turned into PowerPoint-friendly presentation rooms.
The transformation to the entire building will come in pieces and take years because of money issues, but if renovations can begin in the summer, the new second floor could be open by fall 2010. A renovation of the first floor will follow.
“It’s not the most inviting space,” said Tanner Wray, the director of public services for the library. “The building is really designed for an older way. Once it’s done, it’s going to be really dynamite for the students.”
Students echoed the same issues library officials had with McKeldin. Molly Bumbera, a freshman letters and sciences major, said she has run into problems working on group projects for class.
“I come in here all the time looking for the group rooms, and there’s always a wait,” she said. “If I’m with a group we usually won’t even wait, we’ll find somewhere else.”
Eddie Ohanian, a senior sociology major, said that because people’s study habits differ, officials should designate one floor for group work and another for individual study.
Currently, he said, “a huge problem is the amount of outlets. People want to bring their computers, they don’t want to work at home, then they come to the library and can’t find an outlet.”
Steele said students’ advice is paramount to the renovation.
Plans for the first floor are in flux and will depend on the money available, but Steele wants to expand the food options and hours at Footnotes Cafe. Wray said Steele is also considering whether to allow drinks in the main library.
The writing center will stay on the second floor, Steele said, and her team is looking into adding a color copier, poster-size printing, media production facilities and a part-time help desk.
“Whatever support services there are for students, I want them here in the library,” she said.
After the first and second floors are renovated, Steele said she is considering designing a floor especially for graduate students.
The provost’s office supplied $370,000 of the $500,000 Steele has to pay for the second floor’s renovation. While the total cost of the project isn’t final, the half-million won’t be enough. However, Steele is confident donors will step forward to foot the rest of the bill.
The proposed libraries fee of $100 per year will help fund the renovation of other floors. Steele said she was grateful to “thoughtful” students on the Committee for the Review of Student Fees for approving it last month.
The biggest change, Steele said, will be a shift in focus from making the best spaces for books to the best spaces for whatever students want.
“Students are all about success,” she said. “If you want to have an edge with students, you have to help them get an ‘A.'”
cwells at umdbk dot com
