 "Photo: Courtesy of Lynne Scarboro")
The giant hole next to Hilton had become just another ordinary sight for LMU students, faculty and staff since the beginning of construction in October, but lately that pit has transformed into the skeleton of a real building. According to Senior Vice President of Administration Lynne Scarboro, the construction on the William H. Hannon Library is on schedule and should be finished by early next summer, still set to open in fall 2009.
While students will be anticipating the end of finals, the construction staff has another reason to celebrate next week. The Board of Trustees will join workers next Monday, May 5 for the "topping out ceremony," which Scarboro explained is a tradition performed when you hit the highest point of construction.
"We'll all sign the beam that's going to the tallest point of the library, and then the construction staff will put it in place," said Scarboro. "This doesn't mean that we're finished with the metal framework though, just that we've gone as far up as we planned."
The new library, which will be three stories tall, will continue to be worked on this summer. According to the director of facilities management Al Tipon, students can expect to notice some significant changes when they return in the fall.
"They should be finished with the steel skeleton and will have started laying the concrete for all three floors, partially completed the roof and installed the piping for air conditioning, heating, electric and plumbing," said Tipon.
Tipon also said that starting in the fall, the construction staff will work more on refining the floors, especially the first one. Not much will be done on the landscape, though, reported Tipon.
Now that construction is well underway, Scarboro said that administrators need to decide what to do with the current campus library, the Von der Ahe Library, located in Alumni Mall. She said that all the contents in the present library - books, computers, the special collections, etc. - will be transferred to the new Hannon Library in the summer months of 2009, but no decision has been made regarding the future of the Von der Ahe Library building.
While the digital pictures on the paneling surrounding the Hannon Library construction site are good sketches for what the building will look like in another year, Scarboro encourages students to visit www.lmu.edu/library and click on the preview for the new library in the right-hand corner of the page to view a digital 'fly-over' of the future Hannon Library.
"It's pretty exciting," said Scarboro. "The video gives a better picture for what the library is going to look like, and it even shows things like the amphitheater that will be outside and the coffee shop inside." The outdoor amphitheater is set to hold at least 1800 students. The coffee shop inside the library will be run by Sodexho, not an outside vendor, but Scarboro said her vision is to make it a late night coffee shop.
"I'm hoping to get the coffee shop in the new library to stay open till about 2 a.m.," she said.
Also upon returning in the fall, students can expect to see the completed Thomas P. Kelly, Jr. Student Art Gallery, which began its construction next to the Burn's fine arts building back in December. According to Scarboro, that project is also moving along on schedule.
