Library doors open to updated look

By the beginning of the first full week of classes on Monday, furniture for the refurbished Mother Williams Library should be in place, as the last shipment containers arrived this morning.

Library renovation began on the library over the summer in an effort to make the space more comfortable for students, according to Plant Operations Manager Geoff De Santis.

Prior to the renovation of the Center in 2014, an architectural consultant performed an exhaustive study of the CSH campus and gave recommendations as to what facilities could be improved in the school, according to Howard Levin, Director of Educational Innovation and Information Services.

“Every year, a small team of us look at the recommendations from our designers several years ago and target various spaces that need to be renovated with the goal of renovating all of our spaces in about six years,” Levin said.

Various perspectives needed to be incorporated into the execution of the new library in order to transform it into a space which acts as a hub for campus life, according to Geoff De Santis.

“We enlisted a designer to help us out with our thoughts and ideas,” De Santis said. “Along with that, we created a cohort of sophomores who came in and were provided questionnaires about the library, what they like, what they don’t like and what they would like to see improve.”

The group agreed the foundational architecture should remain, but the furniture could use an upgrade, according to junior Isabel Elgin.

“They pretty much requested a bunch of girls who had all spent time in the library,” Elgin said. “We all got together and talked about how we work best and what we need to be accomplished workers. We said we could make it more comfortable, instead of the wooden tables maybe more sofa style furniture.”

DeSantis anticipates positive reactions to the new space.

“Hopefully it’s used significantly more than it was,” De Santis said. “I think that the reason it maybe wasn’t used as much in the past is because the furniture didn’t allow itself to be used in a way that was needed for students and faculty.”