Larger MSEL to display special collections, add study space
"It's all a series of steps. We demonstrated need and put a price tag on it, so now we need at least half of the money in hand," Higgins said. She points out that the sooner the money is raised, the better, because construction costs increase with time.
A student advisory committee of undergraduates and graduate students was created last spring to help brainstorm what services and new features the library expansion should include. Students have repeatedly emphasized a need for more group study space and have discussed the possibility of having a large reading room. In addition, graduate students have asked for small rooms to be assigned to them where they can keep a small collection of books and work on their dissertations. Undergraduates would like to have lockers where they can keep their materials during visits as well.
"We've really outgrown this building," Associate Director of Library Services Deborah Slingluff said, "and if you gather a print collection you have to have somewhere to put it."
She added that the library staff would like to add what are called "learning commons," various hubs where students can more easily work with traditional and online resources simultaneously. Slingluff also expressed a wish to showcase more of the special collections, which the current library lacks the space to display. The collection is constantly growing, she said, and even off-campus storage is getting full.
For example, Hopkins Humanities Professor Richard Macksey is posthumously donating his personal library to the University, which means the MSE Library will receive an additional 70,000 volumes of rare and otherwise significant materials. Slingluff, like many library employees, would like much of this collection to be highlighted along with the others so that everyone can see them.
"There's nothing like being able to see a collection to get a sense of it," Higgins said.
Displaying much of the special collection is only logical, Higgins argued, due to the importance of research at Hopkins, and these materials are critical for much of the research being done here.
A student advisory committee of undergraduates and graduate students was created last spring to help brainstorm what services and new features the library expansion should include. Students have repeatedly emphasized a need for more group study space and have discussed the possibility of having a large reading room. In addition, graduate students have asked for small rooms to be assigned to them where they can keep a small collection of books and work on their dissertations. Undergraduates would like to have lockers where they can keep their materials during visits as well.
"We've really outgrown this building," Associate Director of Library Services Deborah Slingluff said, "and if you gather a print collection you have to have somewhere to put it."
She added that the library staff would like to add what are called "learning commons," various hubs where students can more easily work with traditional and online resources simultaneously. Slingluff also expressed a wish to showcase more of the special collections, which the current library lacks the space to display. The collection is constantly growing, she said, and even off-campus storage is getting full.
For example, Hopkins Humanities Professor Richard Macksey is posthumously donating his personal library to the University, which means the MSE Library will receive an additional 70,000 volumes of rare and otherwise significant materials. Slingluff, like many library employees, would like much of this collection to be highlighted along with the others so that everyone can see them.
"There's nothing like being able to see a collection to get a sense of it," Higgins said.
Displaying much of the special collection is only logical, Higgins argued, due to the importance of research at Hopkins, and these materials are critical for much of the research being done here.
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