From storage to study area, MSU Library's third floor is transformed

11/30/2001 BOZEMAN--Montana State University's Renne Library is revealing a glimpse of good things to come Monday as it opens its new third floor reading room, the first stage of remodeling to the entire building that began last spring.

The 7,500 sq. ft. reading room, located on the eastern side of the third floor, offers an attractive and efficient study area for about 150 students, may be one of the most attractive reclamation projects in university history. Previously a dark storage area that was home to old files and used furniture, the university has added dormer windows and comfortable furniture to transform the room to a state-of-the art study area.

"This is the first step in moving toward the kind of library Montana State University needs and deserves," said Bruce Morton, dean of the MSU Libraries. "MSU students should feel a great deal of personal satisfaction in this area for it was because of ASMSU's lobbying efforts in the 1999 legislature that this has come to fruition."

The area was designed by CTA architects, who tailored the area to accommodate the study needs of contemporary students.

The reading room features a first for the library -- five private study rooms equipped with white boards and wired for electronic study devices. The rooms, which will accommodate small groups, are reserved at the circulation desk on an hourly basis. Four of the rooms were made possible by private donations. Donors were First Interstate Bank and First Interstate BancSystem Foundation, Verna Green, the MSU Parent/Family Association and Friends of the MSU Libraries.

Natural light streams from dormer windows to light the main study area, supplemented by special lighting built into a vaulted ceiling. On the other side of the room, students may look into a new third floor atrium, currently under construction. Additional study area will be reclaimed with the completion of the third floor renovation.

Students using the room can study comfortably in nooks, clusters of study carrels and groupings of easy chairs. The room is handicapped accessible. Much of the furniture in the reading room now comes from throughout the library, but the entire room will be furnished with new furniture to be delivered by next summer. Patricia Denison, the library's development director, is still raising funds for furnishings for the rooms.

The third floor reading room incorporates new concepts in university libraries and the needs of contemporary students and has been well received by small groups who have already drifted into the area, Denison said. Renovation plans call for bringing some of the features of the third floor to the rest of the library.

"For instance, more and more students wish to study collaboratively," Denison said, adding that the study rooms make that possible.

Morton said he is so pleased with the third floor renovation that he is now working on plans to expand the library on both the north and south. Morton said even with the renovation project currently under way -- mostly to bring the building up to code and for personal safety issues -- MSU's library is about half the size of comparable university libraries in the region, including the library at the University of Montana.

This is the first large-scale renovation since the large addition to the library in 1962, when the university had half the number of students MSU has today. The entrance portion of Renne Library was completed then, while the older portion of the library was built in 1948.

"Twelve-thousand square feet (for the entire project) by no means addresses the pressing needs for study space at this university, which still remains acute," Morton said. "Therefore, we will be bringing further proposals to the administration for future library additions."

The 1999 Montana Legislature approved $7.5 million for the multi-phased project that has been supplemented by additional funds for life safety improvement and energy conservation measures, as well as private donations for construction and furnishings. The renovation should be complete in about a year.

Send questions or comments to Carol Schmidt: cschmidt@montana.edu. Or you can send letters to Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services, 416 Culbertson Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717.

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