Renovations at the Vanier Library

You wrote:

What is going on to the Vanier Library 3rd floor and will study spaces be accessible any time soon?

The Library Administration replied:

Thank you for your question. Major renovations are underway at the Vanier Library. These renovations form an important part of the Libraries’ overall plan to improve the efficiency and quality of its spaces. The Vanier Library component is closely related to the plans recently unveiled for the Webster Library.

The Vanier Library will be the scene of construction throughout the remainder of the Winter semester continuing until June 2014. The construction work will be on the third floor. The work zone will soon be contained within a temporary wall, specially insulated to reduce noise. Emerging from this cocoon in early June will be new study facilities and office spaces.

These renovations will not decrease the number of study tables at the Vanier Library. Although the study tables on the third floor will be relocated (mostly to the second floor), all tables will remain accessible to students throughout the construction period. The renovation project will also provide two additional, new group study rooms. These rooms, plus two of the existing rooms, will be specially equipped with new technology to support collaborative learning.

The renovations will not affect students’ access to the stacks. Nor will this project reduce the library collections. Most books from the third floor have already been shifted to the second floor, thanks to space gains made by the compact automated shelving installed last year the ground floor of the Vanier Library.

An important feature of the Vanier Renovations is the creation of a new office area for the Libraries’ Collections Services Department. This department, responsible for ordering and cataloguing the Libraries’ electronic resources, books and journals, will move from the Webster Library to the Vanier Library in June, thus liberating a major area for redevelopment in the Webster Library. Focus of the Webster redevelopment will be the creation of expanded and enhanced study facilities for students.