Webster Library – The Concordian

University vice-provost of digital strategy and university librarian Guylaine Beaudry said plan is to open fourth floor on Sept. 12

Concordia’s Webster Library is entering its fourth phase of renovations with the final upgrades to be made in the coming weeks, according to the university’s vice-provost of digital strategy and university librarian, Guylaine Beaudry.

Beaudry, who has been a member of the team managing the renovations since the project began in January 2015, said the plan is to reopen the fourth floor and the other half of the third floor by Sept. 12.

Once the floors are open to the public, there will be only minor adjustments left to complete, Beaudry said. The only area left to be renovated is the visualization room, which is a new addition to the third floor, she said. This studio will have one wall covered with projection screens for student projects.

“That [final] piece will be delivered by the end of December,” Beaudry said. “It will put an end to our project.”

Students can also create simulations for class projects with the help of staff, Beaudry said. Construction workers are currently adding a window to the room so that passersby can see the studio in use, she said.

According to Beaudry, the university invested $36 million for the renovations. “So far, we are on-budget, even a bit below,” she said. “We are actually delivering before the date that was initially planned [which was December 2017]. Everything tells us that we will be able to deliver 98 per cent of it [on Sept. 12] if you put aside the visualization studio.”

The library’s new configuration has 3,300 seats, which is an addition of 1,800 seats. Among the new features on the fourth floor are four presentation practice rooms equipped with recording materials for presentation playbacks. “It’s a one-button system,” Beaudry explained. “You put in your USB key, press a button and you start recording. Your recordings will be saved on your USB key, [and the room] includes video and sound recording.”

“We will also be improving our digital signage,” Beaudry said, referring to screens placed around the library displaying maps to guide students. These maps will also be accessible through the new Concordia app, Beaudry explained.

With the construction coming to an end, Beaudry said the library’s team will now be working to push their spill-proof mug campaign and emphasize the use of designated food areas. More study hall monitors will be hired to enforce these regulations, and banners will be hung throughout the building to remind students. “We are also working to better understand the needs of our students to give them the services that they need,” Beaudry said.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

The Webster library building on Concordia’s downtown campus. Photo via Flickr

Concordia University announced the $4.5 million purchase of the fifth and sixth floors of the Faubourg building in order to facilitate the Webster library’s expansion for an increase in available study space for students, last week.

Concordia’s VP services Roger Côté believes that the university needs more room for academic purposes, especially additional space and private rooms for studying.

“The university is constantly short of space because the university is continually growing,” said Chris Mota, the university’s spokesperson. “The Faubourg building’s location and opportunity is excellent for the space the university needs.”

The Faubourg building is currently leased to tenants therefore the university is unable to immediately occupy the space in the building. Côté confirmed that his office will inform the university community of the proceeding relocation plans.

“I definitely think an extension would be good,” said Erika Métivier, a first-year creative writing student at Concordia. “Couches are always taken, but what is even more annoying is that the individual silent study areas of the library are always full.”

Mota stated that there is still no definite date as to when the building will be available for students, since the university must respect the tenants’ leases.

“It could still be a number of years before progress starts,” Mota said.

In comparison, McGill boasts 16 different libraries for its two campuses while Concordia, with approximately 10,000 more students than McGill, provides one library for each campus. Jennifer Glover-Drolet, a McGill University education student who attended Concordia last year, said she believes that both post-secondary institutions’ libraries lack study rooms and space.

Glover-Drolet said that some libraries at McGill aren’t as crowded with students as others but she does believe that McGill lacks “closed group study rooms” and doesn’t offer enough study space in general. According to Glover-Drolet, the shortage of space needs to be addressed at McGill as well.

Concordia also currently rents classroom space in the Faubourg building. In 1997, the university purchased the adjacent Faubourg tower, where the School of Extended Learning, the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema and the department of Human Resources are located.

Vicky Desjardins, a first-year English literature student, said she thinks that students studying at the John Molson School of Business are favoured by the university since there are 44 private study rooms available to book. Desjardins thinks it’s “unfair that the business students have all the rooms to study” while other buildings do not provide similar services to students.

Concordia Student Union President Schubert Laforest stated that his main concern is to ensure that the floors bought by administration are used for academic purposes rather than for bureaucratic use.

“It’s good to see there’s an investment in that,” he said. Laforest went on to say that he wants to ensure that other unfinished projects within the university aren’t being neglected.

“Students should be the number one priority,” said Laforest.