E.S. Bird Library will break ground Friday on the $5 million, 1.2 million volume expansion on Jamesville Avenue adjacent to the Hawkins Building on South Campus.

The addition of the high-density storage space will provide more room for infrequently used books, as the library collection contains some 3.1 million volumes.

The project is expected to be complete next August, said Pamela McLaughlin, director of communications and external relations at Syracuse University Library. The library staff will move the materials into the new facility once it is completed.

The new space will ‘be able to keep valuable research materials at hand,’ McLaughlin said.

The shelves at Bird are filled, she said, and because the ways in which people use the library are changing, SU needs to make the space that is available more flexible.

Although this building will not be used as a library, it will contain a small conference room for students and faculty to use upon request.

Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost of the university, is one member of the administration that has been essential to making the library expansion possible.

‘This is a critical project for the University Library,’ he said.

The expansion will ‘create ideal environmental conditions for the long-term storage of the extensive and very valuable collections,’ and it will also ‘create additional space in other, more accessible facilities for the continued growth of our library collections,’ Spina said.

The new collections will also be available for faculty within 24 hours upon request.

The administration believes the expansion will give the faculty more support in their research efforts throughout the school year.

‘This is a research library,’ McLaughlin said. A bigger and more accessible facility will only enhance the research that is performed at the library, she said.

This new facility will also be used to house special collections that are not seen on a daily basis at Bird, said Suzanne Thorin, dean of libraries and university librarian. The stacks of books that were not on display will now have a place for storage and overcrowding will no longer be an issue.

‘We will have a environmentally sound place to house scholarly materials that are not used on a daily basis,’ she said.

The groundbreaking will be a candid ceremony with each speaker digging the first chunk out of the foundation, McLaughlin said. Along with Spina, speakers will include David Nutting, chairman and CEO of VIP Structures Inc.; Judith Mower, a member of the SU Board of Trustees; James Watts, the humanities council chair and professor of religion; and Melissa Welshans, president of the SU Graduate Student Organization.

All of the speakers who have been on board with the expansion of this library will take part in the groundbreaking ceremony.

The expansion of Bird is funded by the university and donor contributions, Thorin said. The facility will be a great addition to South Campus and will help the faculty receive books and other materials more efficiently, she said.

Said Thorin: ‘The library is grateful for the university’s support.’

nrcardon@syr.edu

Published on October 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nrcardon@syr.edu