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July 30, 2007

McHenry Library pioneers tour new construction

By Guy Lasnier, (831) 459-2955, lasnier@ucsc.edu

Predictions of the demise of libraries have been greatly exaggerated, University Librarian Ginny Steel told a gathering of UCSC pioneers July 19 during a “hard-hat” tour of construction at the McHenry Library addition.

Though skeptics may pronounce the irrelevance of libraries in the age of instant electronic information, “libraries are here to stay,” Steel said. True, the library of the 21st century is a different library. For one thing, traditional prohibitions on food and drink and chatter will change.“ The concept of shushing people is going out,” Steel said. “We want it to be a comfortable place.”

And that means a social place with a café, reading gardens and reading rooms with two stories of glass facing the redwoods. Though information may be at one’s fingertips from a dorm room or office, today’s students and faculty require a place to gather to collaborate.

The newly expanded McHenry Library will be a place of social engagement and social contact where “students and faculty can come to work together or by themselves,” Steel said. She said she expects the renovated library will bring a “sense of energy” to the central part of campus.

The tour was arranged for about two dozen people who were involved in the beginnings of the McHenry Library more than 40 years ago. Many family members accompanied them. Among those attending were founding Chancellor Dean McHenry’s sons, Dean McHenry Jr. and Henry McHenry, daughter Linda McHenry, and grandson Ian McHenry; retired facilities director Lou Fackler and his wife, Carolyn; Emily Clark, widow of Donald T. Clark, UCSC’s first University Librarian, and members of her family.

The addition adds approximately 81,600 usable square feet to the existing 114,000-square-foot library. It is designed “in the spirit of the original building,” Campus Architect Frank Zwart told the group. Part of the challenge was to ensure that floors of the new section line up perfectly with those of the original.

Zwart said the design is contemporary and modern while respecting the existing design. It allows users to be aware “of the spectacular environment wherever you are,” he said.

The addition’s concrete structure is complete, but much interior work remains to be done. Steel said a two-week move-in period is anticipated at the end of fall quarter. Then the original structure will undergo seismic strengthening, interior renovation, and installation of sprinklers. Final completion is expected by summer 2009, Zwart said.

And in case there is doubt about the relevance of books in the electronic age, Steel said the library still buys them by the thousands each year. That’s another reason why the library is expanding. “We need more space.”

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