Update 2020 | Vol 38
Features
Associate Librarian Lorna Rourke (far left), Library Associate Deb Addesso (centre),
and Assistant Librarian Zack MacDonald (right), look forward to the library reopening
when the new electronic compact shelving will be available to provide users access to
the library’s collection. Photo: Bryn Gladding Photography
Five years of research, community outreach, program assessment, design, and construction. A $2.25-million investment in the process. Just over 16,000 square feet of state-of-the-art learning, research, and collaborative and quiet study, meeting, and classroom space. Hundreds of hours of teamwork.
The numbers behind the next chapter in library service at St. Jerome’s University are significant, adding up to its reopening in January 2020, and the conclusion of the final stage in a six year $47-million Campus Renewal Project.
Growing for the Future
“When I started my job at the St. Jerome’s University Library 13 years ago, I was delighted to work in such a cozy and welcoming space. Students loved the homey feel of the Library, the friendly staff, and the quiet atmosphere,” notes Lorna Rourke, SJU’s associate librarian.
The Library’s reputation campus-wide as a quiet comfortable place to study, Rourke adds, often meant computers, study carrels, and tables were in full use, with students waiting or having to leave to find study space elsewhere. Group spaces in particular were in high demand as courses increasingly required students to work on assignments and presentations collaboratively.
In 2014, Phase 1 of the University’s Campus Renewal Project began, in response to the need to prepare for continued growth and demand on services. The project was focused on the development of new infrastructure and redevelopment of existing spaces on campus. Over the next six years it included improvements and/or additions to classroom, residential, research, student, and wellness spaces, the Notre Dame Chapel, and the Library.
A Collaborative Effort
“The first step of the process was to conduct a needs assessment to understand better what our campus community wanted and needed in a new library,” notes SJU Assistant Librarian Zack MacDonald, whose main responsibility since 2015, has been leading the build.
“We began gathering information from students and faculty in interviews, surveys, and focus groups, studied patron behaviour through observational studies in the Library and other SJU spaces, and toured new and renovated libraries at other Ontario Universities,” adds MacDonald.
“The needs assessment made it clear to the team that the SJU Community loved the quiet study space, but there was also a great desire for much more collaborative and group study space. Similarly, several faculty members had growing research teams which would benefit from collaborative workspaces.”
SJU’s Research Hub Emerges
The “SJU Research Hub” concept emerged, following the team’s research and inspired by digital scholarship centres at other university libraries. MacDonald and, the then Director of Facilities, Justin Black, worked with two SJU internationally recognized research scholars to take the concept to the next step.
Dr. Maureen Drysdale is a professor of Psychology at SJU, an adjunct professor in Applied Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, and director of the Well-Link Lab on campus. Well-Link researches the mental health of emerging adults and the psychological variables linked to their success in school-to-work transitions. Dr. Steven Bednarski is the director of the Medieval Digital Research in Arts and Graphical Environmental Networks Laboratory (DRAGEN Lab). The lab is at the centre of the “Environments of Change” project, aimed at shining light on the historical relationship between pre-modern people and the natural world in southeastern England. Together with the Library team they developed a plan for an adaptable research infrastructure to support digital scholarship.
Dr. Scott Kline, the Vice President Academic and Dean at the time, encouraged the team to explore a vision of the SJU Library that encompassed the entire second floor of the SJ1 building, where collaborative study areas, classrooms, and dedicated research labs could be built, while still maintaining quiet study spaces. Former SJU President Katherine Bergman signed off on the expanded library concept and the team was ready to take the next steps.
Final Preparations
ABA Architects was selected as the architectural and interior design consultants for the Library renovation, having consulted on work for both the Finn and Sweeney Hall buildings. MacDonald, Black, and Rourke continued as members of the core renovation team with SJU’s former Vice President Administration, Scott Keys also involved. The group worked on developing a design that ensured a safe, accessible space compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requirements. By 2018 the plans were finalized.
“The last major hurdle for the team before implementing the project was the budget,” notes MacDonald, adding that the change from just “improving” the library space to it being a substantial expansion that improved accessibility, and establishing new library spaces geared toward “knowledge creation, collaboration, and research,” impacted the original $500,000 budget significantly: for example, the use of mobile compact shelving units, removing a block wall, and additional structural retrofits in the new open concept space. The SJU Board of Governors approved the $2.25-million budget moving the project into the final planning phase.
Thank you Supporters!
Throughout the project the Library team worked closely with SJU’s Advancement team to fundraise for the new library. Donation appeals were made through crowdfunding, several Giving Tuesday campaigns, promotion at the annual Feast of St. Jerome and “Snacks in the Stacks” events, and a Medieval Studies “High Tea” (featuring a guest lecture and display of several medieval manuscripts on loan from the Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies). The SJU Academic Staff Association (ASA) added to these fundraising efforts by making a pledge of $10,000 to sponsor a new reading room in the Library. Annual gifts and bequests continue to be welcomed.
By February 2018, the library and research floorplan was finalized, followed in the winter by the selection of Rossclair as the General Contractor. A full inventory of the Library collection was prepared by Library Associate Deb Addesso, in conjunction with the library student assistants. The book collection was moved off site for safekeeping and storage. Modified temporary library services were set up in the Finn building, where the DRAGEN Lab and Well-Link Lab were also housed during the build.
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 Media Folder: From top of column: The library’s collection was boxed up and moved to off-site storage. The track system is put in place and ready to receive the mobile shelving units. The new Welcome desk is ready to receive library users. A variety of new work, study, and group gathering areas will welcome library users when it reopens for full service. |
The New Chapter Begins
Demolition and structural work took up much of the summer of 2019. Walls were removed, framing and drywall began, and new glass walls started to appear for group study rooms. To complete the transformation, a plan for a third-floor research space was approved, expanding the Research wing’s footprint. Classes moved back into the building in time for the start of the fall term, when MacDonald describes the final “full-on sprint to the finish” took place to complete flooring, tiling, and millwork.
By the time the first books returned to the site, were unboxed and re-shelved, and furniture had started to arrive, it was December. “The last book was placed back on its shelf on Christmas Eve,” MacDonald shares, adding that work continued throughout the holiday break and into January.
The collections space remained closed at the start of 2020, as the final pieces of the 40-plus foot tall fireplace feature wall was hoisted into place; the new elevator lift received its final safety checks; and the carpenters finished the last of their detail work in the ASA room and on the Information Desk. The Library staff took this time to clean, shelf-read and shift the collection, which became available to the public again in February. The researchers and interns in the DRAGEN Lab moved into their research space on the second floor, while Well-Link waited for the completion of its lab on the third.
“In addition to the changes in the physical library space, the library software also changed at the same time,” adds Addesso. “In December 2019, the University of Waterloo libraries, including ours, joined 13 other Ontario university libraries launching OMNI, an academic search tool to support research and coursework. OMNI joins 14 Ontario university libraries into one catalogue allowing easy discovery of scholarly materials. Patrons now have access to more resources than they have ever had in the one catalogue.”
Immediate impact
The impact of all of these efforts was immediately apparent once the library was opened. Students posted their praise on social media, affirming that the University’s mission for the renovation was successfully accomplished. Students like Kate Szajbely said she “was never able to study in a library before,” but “lived” at SJU’s during winter 2020. Claudia DeFazio identified that “there were so many good study spaces!” And Victoria Blazevic said “I LOVE IT! It’s a great and productive space and all the furniture is comfy.”
“I was never able to study in a library before but I basically lived here during winter 2020. I love it!”
-Katie Szajbely, Instagram post
“Our physical space has almost tripled in size, allowing us to accommodate the increasing number of students who want to spend time in our beautiful Library,” states Rourke. “In the future, spaces such as the St. Jerome’s ASA Room will allow us to host events including author readings, and enrich our outreach into the community. The inclusion of two classrooms in the space will continue to bring professors and their classes right into the Library. It enhances the Library as the academic centre of the University.”
Despite the building closures and remote learning environment set up as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the library staff remain accessible to students and faculty online. Although library service has been modified and continues to change as circumstances will allow, staff members Deb Addesso, Lorna Rourke, and Zack MacDonald, all look forward to the safe reopening of the Library and celebrating the beginning of this new chapter in person.
“Through careful design and planning, (it) has managed to maintain the best of the ‘old’ Library…
while meeting the changing needs of our students, faculty, and staff in a beautiful new space.”
-Lorna Rourke, SJU Librarian
“It was an absolute joy to open the new St. Jerome’s Library back in January 2020,” notes Rourke. “Through careful design and planning, (it) has managed to maintain the best of the ‘old’ Library, with its cozy and comfortable atmosphere, while meeting the changing needs of our students, faculty, and staff in a beautiful new space.“
For the moment, a reminder of how well these new spaces were received pre-pandemic, keeps staff looking forward to in-person library services returning, when this new chapter will continue to serve the SJU community it was built for.
feature fireplace wall