Library goers may notice a shift among the bookshelves in the library as the staff prepares itself for future renovations.

Librarians and students are working together on the second floor reference section preparing for the upcoming renovations on the first floor of Bird Library. The renovations take place because of a survey conducted last year by the library. As their first renovation project in Bird, the library staff plans to put a caf on the first floor.

‘Right now it’s a little bit noisy,’ said Sarah Loftus, library employee and graduate student. ‘The only concern I have is that there’s barely enough room for books as it is, so I don’t know why they’re putting in a caf.’

The librarians are currently re-shelving reference books and newspapers whose previous home now sits empty in the middle of the reference section.

‘We received about 700 responses to the survey and most of them said that the library should offer food and beverage facilities,’ said Lisa E. Moeckel, head of Research and Information Services Division of Bird Library. ‘That’s what we’re currently working on.’

The Office of Design and Construction, which handles all renovations within the campus, spent the past month moving offices around on the second floor to make room for the new caf on the first floor.

The caf, which will sit on the first floor near the former Inter Library Loan office, will provide a 24-hour service to those who study or work within the library, Moeckel said.

‘Not everything will be feasible, but year by year there will be things done. It will be a staged process,’ Moeckel said.

Moeckel said that renovations are still in the beginning stages. The budget has recently been finalized, but constructing the blueprints for the caf will take some more time.

Vice-Chancellor Deborah A. Freund gave the library multi-year funding for the renovations, but most of the money used for the project will come from the library’s own fund-raising programs.

Building a caf will not only provide hungry students food and beverages, but will also offer a place for socialization in an annexed part of the first floor, Moeckel said.

Many students complain about the noise level on the first floor, Moeckel said, but the caf will provide an area where students can socialize away from others who need quiet study-time.

‘The computers aren’t accessible and I’ve never figured out how to print,’ said Greg Tait, a graduate student in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. ‘I went to Notre Dame for undergraduate, and there are half the students and twice the space as they have here.’

Published on February 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm