Expansion & Renovation

Library Expansion Plan Overview

Thanks to the efforts of President Grube and the Georgia Southern University administration, in June 2001 the Board of Regents approved an increase in the size of the Henderson Library expansion plans. The project budget was raised from about $15 million to $22,751,000. This will enable us to add about 101,000 gross square feet to our existing building. We are now in the process of selecting an architectural firm to design the expanded building.

A formal building program proposal was adopted for this project in July 2001 and it is available for short-term loan at the Library reserve desk, under the title "Building Program for Henderson Library Addition". The program identifies two major objectives. First, provide easy access to content in all formats for study and research. Second, create an interactive learning environment for users.

Accomplishing the first objective will include having the capacity to maintain a 1.1 million materials collection on-site, maximizing in-building storage to avoid off-site storage, and creating a facility that moves away from simply warehousing materials and toward a model of seamless information access.

Meeting the second objective will involve tripling the available public seating, providing a greater variety of study and research spaces (quiet study, collaborative study), creating an "information commons" that combines print and electronic reference sources and services, establishing a congregating area to provide a sense of community, and introducing new electronic services such as self-production hardware and software.

The driving principle is to create a library that supports active learning. The information commons and reference/research assistance desk will be the places seen first upon entering the library. This conjunction of access and service will facilitate interaction between patrons, information resources, and Library personnel. An emphasis will be placed on merging and integrating access by enabling the use of physical materials and electronic information in a single central location.

The work, research, and study components of the Library will be designed to support active and reflective learning. Both highly active and quiet spaces will be of equal importance.

The new building will make it easier for Library personnel to tailor services to meet faculty and student needs. Moving the Center for Excellence in Teaching to the library building will not only make the Center more easily accessible, but will also facilitate collaboration between CET and Library personnel to explore new means of supporting the faculty's instructional goals.

In short, the key to the expansion project is providing sufficient and flexible space so that library services and operations can be improved for the benefit of the Georgia Southern community. We offered two campus-wide meetings this fall for the campus community to provide input into our planning process. We were very pleased with the response to those meetings.

We have continued to offer additional opportunities for input via the Library Committee members. You are welcome to discuss the addition with your representative to the Library Committee who can in turn share your views with the committee. We will continue to post documents like this one on the Library's web page. An avenue for submitting online suggestions is available at http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/building/building_feedback.html.

For additional information you may contact Bede Mitchell, Dean of the Library and University Librarian (681-5115 or wbmitch@georgiasouthern.edu ), or Ann Hamilton, Associate Dean of the Library and Associate University Librarian (681-5115 or ahamilton@georgiasouthern.edu).

September 2006