Libraries in midst of renovations
Photo by Shane Scott-Travis.
Most students at Camosun’s Lansdowne campus have probably noticed that construction on the library is well underway. At the Interurban campus, construction is expected to begin in April.
The idea to renovate Camosun’s libraries started in 2006. At that time, the college had decided to do a review of library services at both campuses. They hired a consultant to make recommendations on how to improve the 19-year-old building at the Lansdowne campus and its counterpart at the Interurban campus.
“There was a whole range of recommendations on what was needed to improve library services and one of them was to renovate the libraries and establish a learning commons at each location,” says Camosun’s head librarian, Sybil Harrison.
In 2008, the college hired the architectural firm Chow Low Hammond to develop a conceptual plan for the renovations.
“Just over a year ago, the college said they were going to move ahead and really develop those plans,” says Harrison.
The project is expected to cost $4.3 million. The college was awarded $4 million through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a federal and provincial initiative to renew Canada’s college and university infrastructure. The remainder of the funds will come from fundraising efforts and the college’s capital budget.
During construction, the Lansdowne library, which used to consist of two floors, has been confined to the top floor of the building.
The bottom floor is now full of dusty-looking construction workers and heavy machinery, although you wouldn’t know it at first glance.
The first thing students see when they stroll through the doors of the building is a temporary wall covered in colorful paintings done by students from the Visual Arts program.
The wall is designed to keep the dust and noise in and curious students out of the construction zone.
The wall directs you upstairs, where quarters are a little tight these days, according to Harrison. The upstairs half of the library is now housing all library staff and resources. It used to be considered the quiet floor of the library, but now that everyone is on one floor, there are some challenges.
“It’s been really busy up here,” says Harrison. “But students have been very, very accommodating.”
Harrison says the library renovations are going to be quite extensive and will include a learning commons, a concept that’s growing in popularity in postsecondary institutions.
The idea behind a learning commons is to have many student services—such as library resources, audio-visual services, and computer labs—in one central place.
Harrison says having a range of learning supports in one location is a great idea.
“In college and academic libraries I think the big change has been this learning-commons approach,” says Harrison. “For too many years there’s been a lot of services provided and this idea of bringing them all together, to support the students in the place where they are potentially spending a lot of time, is a huge benefit for students in general.”
Harrison says with all the changes in the types of resources the library provides, and the way those resources are used, the spaces need to change as well.
“Teaching and learning has changed,” says Harrison. “We’re responding to that change in information and also the change that’s happened in the classrooms.”
With an increase in the need for group study areas on campus, the library is also preparing to offer a number of new group study rooms, equipped with computers, audio equipment, and monitors to practice presentations.
Although the renovated libraries will attract more students and aim to facilitate collaborative learning, “that more traditional approach is still going to be there,” according to Harrison. “Students will still want a place for silent study,” she says.
At Interurban, silent study space will come in the form of glass-walled rooms, with partitioned desks available.
Interurban’s library will close down for renovations in April, with limited services available throughout the summer semester.
Both libraries will be ready for the big reveal when students return in the fall of 2010. In the meantime, Harrison is anticipating a vastly different and state-of-the-art transformation, especially at Lansdowne.
“It will be the gem of the campus,” says Harrison.
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