As I write this article in early summer 2013, I am describing changes to the East side of campus. There are two large construction projects underway with the Library project to come in a few months. Next to the Library, is the Rees-Jones Hall - a shared academic building for classrooms, departmental institutes and specialized research/technology spaces. The new building is in the space that used to be a parking lot adjoining the Library. To the east of the Rees-Jones Hall, a second construction project is the renovation and expansion of the Annie Bass Building. This project has a tall construction crane on site as does the Rees-Jones site. Both of these projects are scheduled to be completed by fall 2014.
In 2014, construction for the newly renovated Library begins. The Library will have a ground-level, East facing entrance, expanded areas for archives and rare books, more seating, new graduate student facilities and state-of-the-art technology throughout the building. The Library will relocate some of its book stacks to a new facility to open up space for these enrichments. Library administrators and liaisons along with TCU faculty recommended criteria to choose those less-frequently used volumes for storage at the off-site location. The new facility will be staffed by library employees who will be part of Library Access Services. Administrative oversight will be provided by the Director of Library Administrative Services. The new facility will be close to campus and will maintain TCU books with temperature and humidity conditions necessary for long-term book stability. Staff at the new facility will e-mail scans of journal articles and manage daily deliveries of volumes to campus.
While this facility is being readied for occupancy by late 2013, planning with architects and engineers continues with the intent that the newly renovated Library space on campus will be designed to best deliver the goals of the project. One of the challenges for the upcoming year will be to find offices and spaces for staff and students during construction. The current Library entrance that faces south cannot be moved until a temporary entrance is available. And where will that entrance be?! Stay tuned...
If you haven't been to campus recently, come see what is happening and then come again in a few months to see more changes!
