The Renovation Planning Team and the Document Delivery and Stacks Management Unit were recently honored with a Presidential Team Irish Award for their collaboration and teamwork on the Hesburgh Library renovation project.

The Presidential Team Irish Award publicly recognizes teams of employees who achieve significant accomplishments, collaborations or initiatives, while demonstrating and advancing the University’s mission and core values of integrity, accountability, teamwork, and leadership.

The Hesburgh Library has long been a crossroads for intellectual inquiry and scholarly pursuits at Notre Dame — it is known as “the academic heart of the University.” The demands of teaching and research have changed dramatically since the building opened in 1963, thus the Library must continue to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of faculty and students. These two teams were celebrated for their significant roles in the bold transformation of the most frequently visited building on campus.

Hesburgh Library Renovation Planning Team

This 14-person team*, comprised of faculty, staff, and students from various disciplines across campus, is charged with planning, coordinating, and executing a project to transform the interior of the iconic Hesburgh Library.

The first two phases of the master plan have been completed, with much more to come. The overall project will take several years to finish, both because the building is over 440,000 square feet — the first and second floors are each approximately the size of the football field — and because the Library must remain open to users throughout the renovation.

The Planning Team collected input from various stakeholders to inform the design of a multi-phase multi-year plan. “Feedback from faculty and students indicated a need for both individual and collaborative study spaces, state-of-the-art technologies, and upgrades to basic infrastructure. They desired natural light, intuitive floor plans, and a comfortable and inviting environment,” noted Jessica Kayongo, sociology librarian and chair of the Hesburgh Library Renovation Planning Team.

While finished spaces such as the Entrance Gallery and the Scholars Lounge are visible evidence of progress, there is a lot of work happening behind the scenes. Library staff work every day to make sure the building accommodates the needs of its users throughout construction. For example, Ross Fergerson, facilities manager at the Hesburgh Library and Planning Team member, and his staff relocate furniture, study tables, shelving, and more, to make room for each new construction project. Since the start of renovation, Fergerson and his team have moved over 20,000 pieces of furniture alone.

“The most monumental achievement throughout the renovation project, thus far, has been the team’s ability to accommodate diverse and changing needs of our users, especially the students,” said Fergerson.

According to Kayongo, the transformation of spaces is powerful and the reaction from campus is overwhelmingly positive. This is the result, no doubt, of careful and diligent research, assessment, and reflection on the potential impact of the team’s decisions.

“Every element of the renovation, even those that are aesthetically bold, is meant to address known user needs. For example, feedback showed that users wanted more natural light, hence the skylight on the north end of the second floor and the wall opening on the south end of the second floor. Users had trouble finding their way around the maze-like first and second floors. The new atrium openings allow for visual connections and easier navigation.”

The team believes the reorganization of services and spaces in the building will better support the way students and faculty work well into the future. “The renovation process has been a great experience. It is a lot of work but is also a lot of fun,” reflects Kayongo. “I’ve enjoyed learning from the various perspectives of the planning team members. They have great depth of knowledge from many different areas of the University. We are a perfect team.”

Document Delivery and Stacks Management Unit

The plan to transform Hesburgh Library was developed in phases so the building could remain open and continue to serve the Notre Dame community. A driving force behind the work of the Document Delivery and Stacks Management Unit (DDSMU)* is to ensure that collections are always accessible even during the challenging times of renovation.

Clara Taylor, supervisor of stacks management at Hesburgh Library, says, “We don’t ever want a patron to say, ‘I couldn’t get to that resource.’ Providing information to our users and connecting them to knowledge is our primary goal.”

Behind the scenes, this team moves collections to make space for study areas, computer clusters, and faculty and staff offices. They are constantly moving collections in order to prepare for construction activity. Every time collections are moved, signage, location guides, and records need to be updated onsite, online, and in print.

This approach has already resulted in the need to move nearly every one of the 3 million books housed in the Hesburgh Library. “When a move happens, we make sure to communicate the information immediately because our patrons and colleagues depend on us. This process has been seamless and I don’t think many faculty or students have noticed how many times we’ve had to move materials,” says Taylor.

“People often say that ‘If a butterfly flaps its wings it will affect this team,’” says Cheri Smith, academic services and collections program manager. “Every part of the renovation truly affects the members of this team in some way.”

Moving collections to accommodate the renovation project is just a layer of responsibility to the DDSMU’s primary job. This team is involved in many aspects of daily operations. For example, they run the Document Delivery Service which annually delivers about 130,000 books and documents to students and faculty on campus. The team also re-shelves about 350,000 books during the academic year and responds to emergencies that could potentially damage collections. In short, Taylor shares that this team’s work is the foundation upon which everything else is built.

“Their leadership in excellence and commitment to service throughout this process has been exceptional, enabling student and faculty work to continue uninterrupted and our renovation to continue on schedule,” marvels Smith. “They are the magic that happens behind the scenes.”

 

*Planning Team – Matt Anderson, Chris Chew, Mike Daly, Ross Fergerson, Harriet Fink, Pam James, Jessica Kayongo, John Lubker, Chris Maziar, Shay Nothstine, Diane Parr Walker, Doug Schlagel, Jon Schwarz, Paul Turner

DDSMU – Sharon Andrzejewski, Debbie Bernhard, David Enyeart, Charlotte Ford, Dana Makinen, Cindi McDonald, Clara Taylor, Sean Walton