Views and Updates from the Library on the Learning Commons Project

When we reopen, we’ll be able to welcome you back to renovated facilities, but our reopening plans must now align with the construction schedule. In this post, we provide an updated timeline of the construction in the Tioga Library and the Snoqualmie Buildings and how it relates to our planning for a return to onsite services.

At the approach of the 2020-2021 academic year last August, I posted to the Library blog an overview of our reopening plans, based on our best assessment of the status of the pandemic and university guidelines for onsite operations during COVID-19. With the start of construction for the Learning Commons Project, I would like to update this post, drawing on what we’ve learned and the best indications of how and when we will begin reopening spaces and expanding onsite services. 

We recognize the construction timeline overlaps with several confluences: the vaccines becoming more widely available, a potential increase in activities on campus as weather improves during Spring Quarter, and a dropping of the number of COVID-19 infections. Within this context, I would like to offer a few different answers to the question posed in the title to set expectations for our future plans.

1) We will begin the planning process to reopen when the renovation of the Tioga Library Building is complete in June 2021

We anticipate that immediately after moving into Tioga Library Building (TLB) in June 2021, we will assess the state of pandemic and work with UW Tacoma Facilities to prepare our spaces for limited onsite services and activities to serve students during Summer Quarter 2021. We are not able to open our spaces sooner because TLB is an active construction zone and the Snoqualmie Building (SNO) is being used as temporary workspaces and storage during construction.

We have a small, agile team in the Library that has extensive experience in renovation projects and experiential knowledge in performing onsite operations during the pandemic. Here’s what we’ve learned: Keeping a library running (and open) during construction is challenging. Planning to reopen to visitors and resume onsite services during COVID-19 is challenging. Doing both together seems nearly impossible and potentially taxing on staff and patrons alike. We are choosing to focus our time, energy, and attention to the construction project so that we will be able to reopen as soon as possible in renovated facilities and provide much-needed services to students.

Construction is first occurring in TLB so that Library services and spaces can be shifted out of SNO when renovations begin there. As soon as TLB construction wraps up in May/June, construction will shift over to SNO. This graphic, developed by McGranahan Architects, provides an overview of the project timeline:

2) Conditions permitting, we anticipate welcoming students to mostly restored Library spaces and services in the Learning Commons by Autumn Quarter 2021

Our goal is to restore onsite operations in the Library and Learning Commons by the start of Autumn Quarter 2021. What will be available immediately is largely dependent on the construction schedule and the conditions of the pandemic at the the time.

Tioga Library Building (TLB): Estimated to be fully open by Autumn Quarter 2021. Since the TLB will be completed in June, we will have the summer to work with our colleagues in the TLC Writing Center to resume full operations in this building. By Fall, students will likely be able to have access to quiet and silent study throughout TLB and visit the newly collocated Research Help and Writing Center on the second floor of TLB. We will likely be able to fully circulate course reserves and physical items when the UW Libraries is prepared to suspend the HathiTrust Emergency Library.

Snoqualmie Building (SNO): Estimated to be open within the first month or so of Autumn Quarter 2021. SNO construction will occur throughout the summer and into the fall. The current timeline set by the contractors indicates that this space will be complete in October, a little after the start of Autumn Quarter. Over the summer, as the project reaches completion, the Library will work with colleagues in the TLC Quantitative and the Center for Equity and Inclusion to identify a plan and date for opening these newly renovated facilities that both accommodates move-in schedules and the needs for outreach to new students.

3) We remain open virtually and will be through Summer Quarter 2021

With the majority of classes slated to be offered remotely through Summer Quarter 2021, we will continue to provide online services and resources for students and faculty as we have throughout the pandemic

• Services: Librarians are available to collaborate with faculty to deliver remote instruction in classes, library staff will find and identify texts and resources for classes, and Research Help continues to offer UW Libraries 24/7 chat reference and individual zoom consultations. Our curbside check out service will remain available throughout construction.
• Programs: The Library continues to offer events and training sessions in an online mode. RealLit[erature] and the Staff Reads programs bring students and staff together to discuss books, and “Publish and Flourish” program will begin calling attention to faculty publications through a series of blog posts.
• Collections: The HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service has opened up digital access to millions of books in the UW Libraries, and of course, we continue to offer online access to hundreds of search tools and thousands of online journals. Often, the UW Libraries Interlibrary Loan Service can also provide access to material outside of these collections, as well.

Many of these services, programs, and resources will continue to be available throughout construction.

Questions? Please reach out to reach out to the Library through our email address: taclib@uw.edu.