The past few months have been an exciting time of investigation
and research. Through surveys, meetings and one on one
discussions with students, faculty and library administration the
vision for a new library has come into focus.
The students are the heart of the library- both individually and
as a community of learners. The library will be a crossroad,
blending physical and virtual information. It will be a place
where students choose to come because it’s structure, design and
contents ease the exchange of ideas and information.
The library is student and faculty centered. The goal has
been to provide students with a facility that not only encourages
use by design but also becomes a part of the fabric of campus life
and study. The goals for this project were:
- Serve the students through design
- Encourage student to student and student to faculty
interactions
- Provide efficient use of space
- Design which is consistent with trends in higher education
- Encourage innovation
- Promote excellence
The building has great bones; the design of the library makes
use of the existing architecture of the building and enhance
it. St. Augustine was built in the early 60’s and has
wonderful features that will be revealed. The concept of the
design revolves around student seating and study at the perimeter
and the collections centralized at the interior of the
building. This opens the perimeter to a variety of study
environments, which allows for both quiet individual study as well
as quiet group study. The natural light and views into and
from the library will help to connect the library with the campus
as a whole. Opening the perimeter will allow the space to
flow and circulate more freely and uniformly.
The stacks are concentrated towards the center of the library,
allowing the collections to be centralized on the third and fourth
floors. The centralized reference desk on the 3rd floor
promotes interaction with faculty as well as provide the type of
resources students need. The re-organized departments
facilitate student and faculty interactions. Additionally
state of the art resources provide students and faculty computer
labs and a wireless infrastructure to increase access to digital
material. This is the type of library that students have
wanted and asked for; it is a library that exceeds their
expectations.