For the past 10 weeks, library employees have moved 820,000 books around the library to make room for the new Learning Commons.
Student employees worked all day and into the night to complete the time-consuming task.
"The hardest part about moving the books was doing it in a timely order," said Marci Solomon, sophomore in public relations. "We really wanted to do a good job and it was getting them off the shelves and keeping them in order and getting them back on the shelf that was tough. I think it is going to be a great addition, something that will bring a lot more people into the library."
Most of the books were moved and rearranged, not taken away.
"The students that moved the books worked really hard, it was hard physical labor to move those books," said Bonnie MacEwan, dean of libraries. "We thought it would take twice that long and the students worked so hard and so smart. We finished the project weeks ahead of schedule, and I'm just so proud of them."
The Learning Commons is a space in the library that has been redesigned with student input.
The principle behind the Learning Commons is creating an environment that is flexible and responsive to student needs.
"Students requested a writing center and tutoring assistance, and that is when we started working with the people in the writing center and study partners telling them we wanted them to be a part of this project," MacEwan said.
Library administration asked students what they wanted and needed. They took surveys at the tailgate at the library, and the Student Advisory Council also did a survey.
"We did some fun things," MacEwan said. "We gave students a camera and asked them to take pictures of where they study at home and what you always have with you just to get a sense of how students were working. We had students draw their perfect library. We got lots of wild and crazy things like a massage parlor, but we got a lot of really useful information."
Some things library personnel hadn't thought of before were round tables.
"It sounds like a really small thing, but you look around in the library and most of the tables are square," MacEwan said. "We never thought of having round tables, but several of the groups drew in round tables and that is something really easy for us to do."
The library staff took all of the student input, analyzed it and sent it off to a learning commons planner in Colorado named Group 3 Planners.
The Learning Commons will include soft furniture, tables for varying group sizes, additional study rooms, an alcove room that should fit six to eight study rooms, white boards, power outlets and comfy chairs.
"I've been moving the books since August," said Neel Nambeesan, graduate student in industrial engineering. "It was fun, we got to work with a lot of people. I think we were short of space, you come in during midterms and there is not enough space, you can't find a spot to sit down and study. So this will be a neat addition."
The library is planning an open house focused on the students sometime in February, as well as a formal ribbon cutting ceremony.
"Ours has been designed with the input we got from students," MacEwan said. "We are going to have writing center assistance in our Learning Commons because that is something the students said they wanted. I am excited for the students to see what it looks like when it's done and to know they had a part in doing this."
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