Association of University Architects
1997 Case Study Awards Program

Change, change, and change -- A user group, determined to correct the mistakes of the past, guides a research library through its third change in 50 years.

Brief Description

In the early 1980s, the state system of higher education in Oregon was contemplating the creation of a central depository for library materials to be located some 50 miles from the university's campus in Eugene. The proposal understandably concerned the institution's faculty and librarians, who quickly and successfully thwarted this effort. A couple of side effects of this effort were the quantification of the university's storage needs and a renewed push for expansion of the campus's central library. A donor was found, and by 1987 the legislature had appropriated planning funds for a $15 million dollar project; as the needs became more clearly understood, this figure was quickly increased to $25 million.

The original building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1937 to house a closed collection. Additions were rather crudely appended in 1945 and again in 1966. The resulting building was dark, smelled stale, and was hard to use. Most users, confused by its layout, ventured in only to retrieve materials. By 1985 almost all seating had been displaced by book stacks, staff were working in cramped quarters, and technology was being implemented by stringing wires overhead or underfoot.

This is the story of a user group which, when faced with the option of simply adding as much space as possible (as had been done twice before with disastrous results), opted instead for less additional square footage and a more integrated building that resolved existing problems.

This case study, then, looks at how a 1940s-era closed-stack library was converted into an open-stack research library for the 21st century and how the user group process resulted in a project that was fundamentally different from the two previous addition projects.