Library Renovations to Begin January 2006

In partnership with the School of Medicine, the Library is planning some major renovations of Library space to begin this summer and continue into the next year. The goal is to increase the number of small group instruction rooms to support courses in the School of Medicine, improve and enlarge the Library’s existing small group rooms, and eventually carve out additional space for comfortable seating and study. The shift in library collections from large, print collections to electronic resources available any time and from any location creates the possibility for these changes.

What follows is a description of the current thinking. As with any large project, changes can occur as new ideas or new information comes to light.

First Floor of the Library (Learning Resources Center)
Plans are under development to enlarge the Library’s existing group study rooms to better accommodate larger groups of students. Thirteen additional group study rooms will be built in the area that currently houses the book collection. In addition, the School of Medicine’s Educational Technology staff will relocate their offices to the space at the rear of the floor, overlooking Lane Road.

To facilitate these changes, the Library’s book collection will be moved to the Cabell Room on the north side of the Library and the seating and tables located in the space overlooking Lane Road will be relocated upstairs to the Journal Room.

Construction is planned for January 2006 with an anticipated completion date of August 2006. However, the Library will begin making changes this summer to prepare for the renovation.

Cabell Room
In order to accommodate the Library’s book collection in the Cabell Room, a major review of the older journal collection (1964-1986) is underway. Journals in this collection will either be relocated to offsite storage or will be considered for weeding. Over the past few years, the Library has aggressively licensed large backfiles of online journals with the knowledge that users prefer electronic access. Factors that will be considered for retaining print journals will include availability for online access, ISI Impact Factors and data concerning citation half-life for each journal title.

In order to condense and shift this collection, the Cabell Room will be closed to users July 25th through October 2nd. Library staff members will retrieve any materials needed by users. The tables and chairs that are currently in the Cabell Room will be temporarily placed for use in other locations throughout the Library.

Journal Room
In order to accommodate seating and study space from areas being rennovated, the journals in the Journal Room will be shifted and condensed. In many cases, the Library no longer receives print copies of journals but relies solely on electronic access; therefore space needed for print collections is decreasing. This collection shift is underway now and will be completed by the end of the summer.

Many users have asked for more seating and quiet study space in the Library. Eventually, after the journals in the Cabell Room have been reviewed and either relocated or removed, a review of the journal titles in the Journal Room will begin. Ultimately, we hope to create space for additional seating in the area of the Journal Room that overlooks Jefferson Park Avenue. This phase of the project will take place in 2006.

Please Bear With Us
As with any renovation, there will be disruptions and noise, but the ultimate product of better teaching facilities and more user space will outweigh the disruption. The School of Medicine and the Library will work diligently to minimize problems whenever possible. Your support and understanding during this process are appreciated!

For more information, contact Dan Wilson at 924-0193 or dtw2t@virginia.edu.

[July 25, 2005]

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