University Libraries Renovation Update – February 9, 2021

Image of books on shelves
JONATHAN COHEN/BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY Books at the Glenn G. Bartle Library photographed for the Binghamton University Magazine, January 15, 2010.

Due to COVID-19, the Bartle and Science Libraries’ renovation projects were put on pause in Spring 2020. We were recently notified that both projects are restarting with the original timeline.

As a reminder, Bartle Library 3rd Floor renovation is a critical maintenance project that will include mechanical and energy management system upgrades and asbestos removal. The renovation project provides the ideal opportunity to redesign the floor to meet the current needs of our faculty, students and staff. The project is a significant investment in the Libraries, particularly in the area of the humanities, that will transform the floor into an innovative and inviting space for study, teaching and research. The space will feature a new Digital Scholarship Center to meet the growing communities of practice for research and teaching in the digital realm on campus.

Due to the asbestos removal, everything on the 3rd Floor must be removed, including the book collection. To accommodate the majority of the book collection, compact shelving will be installed on the Science Library ground floor. The Bartle 3rd Floor book collection – approximately 525,000 titles – must be relocated by July 2021. To accomplish this, we need to start moving books this month.

Given the space that will be available in the renovated Science Library, we first need to relocate approximately 93,000 items from Bartle and 11,000 items plus the bound journals from the Science Library to our Annex in Conklin. These items will remain off-site and will be available via our document delivery service. In addition, the Bartle current journal and newspapers will be relocated to the 1st Floor in the library. These moves will begin in February and finish by the end of March. 

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We will provide ongoing updates throughout the project.  For more information about Library renovation projects, visit Library Renovation

If you have any questions about the renovation and its impact on the Bartle and Science Libraries, contact Jill Dixon, Associate University Librarian for Public Services and Collections, at jdixon@binghamton.edu. There is also an anonymous feedback form on the Library Renovation website.