New Barnard library? Narnia?

Last night, Bwog dispatched novice correspondent Maddie Stearn (AKA the OG Barnard Bearoness) to cover Barnard’s first SGA meeting of the Spring semester. The meeting focused primarily on addressing aesthetic plans for the Barnard library, as well as outlining the timeline for the construction project. Continue reading to hear more about the library, about future SGA events, and about the mid-year budget review. 

At this week’s SGA meeting, the discussion was dominated by the plans for the (still nameless) “New Building” (we’re talking about the new Barnard library, in case there’s any legitimate confusion). Chief Operating Officer Rob Goldberg stopped by to provide an update on the project. Mr. Goldberg addressed past concerns over the library’s size, and he also talked about the next stages of the project. He also answered questions about wheelchair access, sustainability, and the Barnard pool (which the administration plans to continue to use for storage). Below are the highlights from Mr. Goldberg’s presentation:

• The new library will have the capacity to house Lehman’s entire collection of books and will be able to accommodate growth as well. After hearing the concerns and suggestions from the Barnard community, the school and architects worked together to modify the library’s design and prevent downsizing the book collection.
• The school will start forming working groups of faculty, staff, and students in the near future to discuss the New Building’s future design plans. The administration will collaborate with the SGA and Student Life on the student representation aspect of the working groups.
• The demolition of Lehman (adieu good friend) will begin in December of 2015 (after finals) and will continue through Winter Break.
• Construction on the New Building is expected to start in March of 2016.
• Ideally the New Building will open in August of 2018. 
• The Lefrak gym will be refurbished beginning in June of this year and will serve as a swing space during construction of the New Building. It will have two floors, the first floor housing a transitional library and the second floor housing faculty offices.
• Activities currently using the gym will not be cut back, curtailed, or cancelled. Plans are in the works for finding new locations for uprooted events.

The last ten minutes of the meeting were dedicated to the Mid-Year Budget Review. The presentation included extensive tables with large sums of money. We learned that the SGA is operating within its budget. We also were told that plans for Senior Week are in the works, and that following Glass House Rocks, we can likely expect another small, SGA-sponsored event before the end of the year.

Update: 12:20pm

Dean Hinkson forwarded an email to Barnard students this afternoon from Goldberg further explaining the construction process of the new library.

Dear Members of the Barnard Community,

Now that the spring semester is upon us, I wanted to update you on the progress and status of our efforts to build a new facility on the site of Lehman Hall. The plans are shaping up to be quite exciting, and the new building promises to propel the College into its next 125 years by transforming and enhancing how we teach, learn, and study at Barnard.

As you know, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM) is our project architect. Over the past few months, with the help and input of many in the Barnard community, they have completed the second phase of the design process, known as schematic design. During this phase, we settled on the overall program and “massing” of the building — basically identifying everything that will be located within it, and roughly determining the building’s shape and size. At this time, the program includes: a larger and fully modernized library; a digital commons as part of an Institute for Innovation in the Liberal Arts at Barnard (iLAB); a Computational Science Center (CSC) that will connect to our facilities in Altschul; enhanced new homes for BCRW and the Athena Center; expanded conference facilities that will link to The Diana Center Event Oval; and offices for the following academic departments and programs: Economics, History, Political Science, and Urban Studies.

The building will consist of a base of approximately five floors, housing the library, classrooms, and the digital commons, and a narrow tower situated against Altschul (just a bit below the height of Altschul), housing the Computational Science Center and departmental offices. This design will maximize the amount of sunlight passing from Claremont Avenue to Lehman Lawn, and vice versa.

Based on these plans, the Board of Trustees reaffirmed its approval to proceed with the new building at its December meeting. Currently, the timeline calls for the building to be open for the fall semester in August 2018.

The next phase of the process is design development, during which we will work with SOM to determine the details of all of the spaces, including finishes, operational flow, accessibility, and the overall internal and external look of the building. The design development phase will be informed by the efforts of several working groups who will help flesh out the program, design, and operational concepts of the library, the digital commons, and the CSC. Over the past few weeks, we have worked with faculty, library staff, and the architects to ensure that the size of Barnard’s current on-site book collection can be maintained and has room to grow. The library working groups will continue to inform decisions about the ultimate size of the book collection and other operational issues.

We expect the design development phase to be completed in June. Our construction manager, Turner Construction Company, is working hand in glove with us and with SOM to ensure that design, schedule, construction details, and the budget are all in alignment.

To meet the August 2018 opening date, we plan to begin the construction process in late December 2015, with demolition of Lehman Hall beginning shortly after finals. The demolition process will take a few months since Lehman Hall will be dismantled in sections. Construction of the new building will begin in early spring 2016.

Because Lehman Hall is active and fully occupied, we will need to construct temporary facilities on campus to house the people, programs, and activities that will be displaced when we close Lehman in December 2015. The bulk of this “swing space” will be constructed in the LeFrak Gymnasium, essentially transforming the gym into a two-story space that will temporarily house a portion of the library, study spaces, and classrooms on the first floor, and Economics, History, Political Science, and Urban Studies on the second floor. We will continue to use the pool area for necessary on-site storage. IMATS, including AV services and digital editing suites, will be located in Sulzberger Annex and Weber Living Room until the new building is completed.

Our goals in creating the swing space are to ensure that students have access to ample study space; that core functions of the library will continue to operate, including access to and maintenance of Barnard’s reserve and unique collections, and IMATS and AV support; and that faculty can work productively and are accessible to students as the building is being constructed.

Assuming all goes as planned, we will begin swing space construction in LeFrak in June 2015 and complete construction in December. At that point, we will move faculty and staff out of Lehman Hall in time for new building construction activities to begin shortly thereafter. Over the next few weeks we will have a bit more clarity on the impact that swing space construction and preparation for new building construction will have on campus.

Of course, as our plans progress, I will be sure to stay in touch with periodic updates. I thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation and look forward to sharing more exciting details in the months ahead.

Sincerely,

Rob Goldberg
Chief Operating Officer

 More optimistic than any construction photo via Shutterstock

Note: The construction date for the New Building was originally listed as March 2015. Construction will actually begin in March of 2016. This article has been updated to correct the error.