Campus Building Alterations to Begin This Month to Allow for Renovation of Neilson Library

As part of the college’s library renovation project, a series of alterations to campus buildings will begin later this month and unfold over the course of the next year to allow for the summer 2017 relocation of all occupants and activities in Neilson Library and Alumnae Gym. The renovation of Neilson Library is the college’s largest capital project in a decade.

These “library-enabling projects”—developed by library planning teams, the Provost’s Office and the Office of Facilities Management—will support teaching, learning, research and other activities at Smith during construction of a new Neilson.

“Our goal is to keep key library resources and core teaching and learning spaces accessible during the reimagining of Neilson,” said Provost and Dean of the Faculty Katherine Rowe, who chaired the Library Program Committee.

Some key spaces will be altered early in the project timeline, such as Young Science Library, which will close for renovations at the end of December 2016. Key reference materials from Young will then be available in Neilson.

Beginning in the summer of 2017, Young and the Green Street Annex Classroom Building (better known as the Green Box) will become Smith’s working library spaces, housing portions of existing library collections, library staff and vital study and research activities.

Many of the books and other scholarly resources now housed in Neilson will be moved to the new Five College Library Annex planned for Hatfield.

Some of the planned alterations to campus spaces in advance of construction work on Neilson will be temporary, while others will be permanent, Rowe said. The Green Box will be demolished once a new Neilson is complete.

Other planned relocations over the coming months include moving Copy and Print Services to 40 Green Street; Neilson faculty offices to the Henshaw Complex (formerly the Friedman Complex) and the Center for Women and Financial Independence to 146 Elm Street.

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute will relocate to 21 Henshaw Avenue and the Center for Media Production will relocate operations to the Henshaw Complex at the end of the 2017 spring semester.

Campus parking will be affected by library renovations, with an expected relocation in 2017 of approximately half of the spaces in Dickinson Lot on Green Street through expansion of parking in other areas of campus. Plans and options related to parking relocations are under development.

Facilities Management is also developing plans to accommodate expected disruptions to utility lines, phone lines and other campus infrastructure during library renovations.

The latest updates on Neilson renovations are online.