Library construction delayed, under budget

By Allison Sundaram

The "Library for the 21st Century" project, originally scheduled to open in fall 2008, is facing a funding shortfall, delaying construction until summer 2007 -- at the earliest.

The university will be waiting to begin construction until all of the donations have been made.

"The board of trustees has mandated that we can't begin construction projects until we have pledges for the entire cost of construction," Chief Information Officer Ron Danielson said. "So the start of construction for the library or any other building on campus is tied to our success at fund raising for that building,"

The delay in plans will have a significant effect on the classes of 2008 and 2009 if the most current construction date holds.

While library services will be available during the 24-month construction period, the centralized study area and convenient access to collections will be reduced.

Much of the library's reference collection has already been placed in the Automated Retrieval System. During construction, the stacks and most reference volumes will also be held there making research papers and projects very difficult for students.

Despite the inconveniences this will cause students, university officials maintain that building a new library is necessary.

"This building is totally inflexible and unable to meet the needs of students and faculty in the 21st century," Assistant University Librarian Taeock Kim said.

"It met the needs of our students at the time, pre-1970s, but now it's a whole different world."

Orradre Library opened in 1964, and by the late 1970s, it was running out of places to house books and collections, leading to the expansion into a lower level in 1980.

The building has been modified repeatedly since its opening, but according to Kim, it is not suitable for the technological advances of the past 30 years.

Even as fund raising continues, the library's price tag mounts. According to Danielson, inflation has increased the actual costs of the library to a figure of $100 million.

"The university's response to that will not be to cut back the scope of the library to stay within the original budget, but rather to try as much as we possibly can to accelerate the construction schedule to minimize the effects of inflation," he said.

The Campaign for Santa Clara, the school-initiated fund-raising drive announced by University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., in 2002, has succeeded in raising $322 million of the $350 million goal. However, barely half of the $80 million required for the sweeping new library project has been raised.

While construction is at a halt on the new library following the ARS completion, Orradre is continuing to renovate.

Over the summer, the reference room was redesigned and is now being used to test plans for a new "information commons," which integrates technological access and comfortable study areas, and will be featured prominently in the new library building, using funding from a grant.

Contact Allison Sundaram at (408) 554-4546 or asundaram@scu.edu.