Ralph Brown Draughon Library will be closed from 6 p.m. on Dec. 9 to 9 a.m. on Jan. 7 for construction over the winter break.
Dean of Libraries Bonnie MacEwan said while most of the changes coming over break are “not very exciting to students,” they are laying the groundwork for more significant additions to come in the near future.
MacEwan said the coming renovations will mean the end of Caribou Coffee in the library.
“[Construction workers] will put up the partition wall on the second floor, so Caribou will be gone when students get back," MacEwan said. "We’re working with auxiliary services for there to be a temporary coffee venue somewhere else in the building."
MacEwan said the renovations made over the break may bring changes students will see when they return in January.
“They’re going to put in a water line, they’re going to install two H-VAC units, the units that provide heating and cooling for the building," MacEwan said. "That will merge the heating and cooling of the Mell classroom and the library."
This part of construction will focus on construction students may have found disruptive had it been done this semester, MacEwan said.
"They will cut holes for two windows into the classrooms on the third and fourth floors, so they’ll be cutting through the stone of the building," MacEwan said. "We’ll do some of the more disruptive work with regard to the installation of the sprinkler system, and they will also replace the parking deck doors."
MacEwan said students will see new doors when they return from break.
"There’ll be new doors when the rest of the students get back,” MacEwan said. “They’ll also be moving the library instruction classroom over to another room so that we’ll be able to teach our classes in the fall.”
MacEwan said while these changes are necessary for the bigger changes to come afterwards, some slated for completion for the fall 2017 semester.
“There’ll be a new quiet study room, there’ll be a Panera Bread, there’ll be collaborative study areas, there’ll be a big computer lab, kind of like the MDRL on the first floor,"MacEwan said. "There’ll be a new reference point where you can get help both with library and with technology. There’ll be all these exciting things coming, but none of that can come until they do this infrastructure."
MacEwan said students who may need resources will have access to Dudley Hall’s library over the winter break.
“The library of Architecture, Design, and Construction at Dudley Commons will be open all the hours that RBD would have been open during the period that RBD is scheduled to be closed, so everybody will have the exact same hours of library services," MacEwan said. "To the extent possible, we’re providing all the same services that we would’ve provided there."
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