Renovations began in March on the third floor of the Love Library at San Diego State.
Planning began in October 2013 to scope out the location of new furniture, yet painting and electrical changes weren’t initiated until this year.
“We’re doing a little bit of a face-lift,” library dean Gale Etschmaier said. “It will be a much less institutional, more pleasant space.”
The total cost was projected to be $235,000 with funding from SDSU Academic Affairs and the student use fee.
The third floor’s food friendly study room is the area in the process of being renovated. The floor was also occupied by government publications employees and held the library’s microform materials.
The cosmetic changes included a deep cleaning, painting and new furniture. A wall was demolished to create more space, SDSU Facilities Coordinator Maureen Dotson said.
“We know that working in a place that’s aesthetically pleasing with bright, colorful surroundings inspires creativity and scholarship so we’re very excited about this,” Etschmaier said.
The extra space after the demolition of the wall and rearrangement of the new and improved furniture will make room for more seating. The new space will increase approximately 15 percent, accommodating 200 people in that particular study room instead of the past 176, Etschmaier said.
“We need a variety of seating types,” Etschmaier said. “Some for collaborative work and some for individual work and we’ve tried to combine both.”
Other changes included an upgrade in electrical power to allow for the installation of a recharging station for electronic devices.
“It will be a more modern area to study and be connected,” Associated Students Library Committee Chair Jacqueline Orbe said. “Students can expect to see an area with technology advancements.”
Since the study area is one of the food-permitted parts of the building, another possible addition upon completion was paper towel and hand sanitizer dispensers to improve sanitation and make it a newer and cleaner space, Dotson said.
The expected completion for the cosmetic aspect of the project is mid-April 2015 and new furniture is set to arrive after that.
The A.S. Library Board, headed by Orbe, was involved in the renovation process. Prior SDSU student feedback contributed to decision-making regarding the changes.
Students are able to track the progress of the renovations on the SDSU library website and through its social media.
“There are going to be announcements on the library website,” Orbe said. “There’s also a library Twitter and Instagram page and also word of mouth.”
For the duration of the renovation, microform materials including the U.S. and California government publications are relocated to the current periodicals and microfroms section.
“When it reopens, it will be quite the dramatic change, I am hoping,” Dotson said.
