Construction Zone March-April 2024

• Areas to showcase rare and distinctive collections in high-tech, accessible spaces that will offer ample room for reading, teaching and appropriate storage.
• An expanded digital scholarship suite where faculty and students learn how to use digital tools and techniques in their research.
• On-site general collections, housed in browsable, compact shelving.
• Event spaces for lectures, conferences and other programming
• A floor dedicated to the student learning experience, called the Learning Commons, bringing together essential academic resources for students—including the Writing Center, The Learners’ Studio (tutoring), Learning Support Services and the Center for Access, Success and Achievement.
• A main entrance that will carry visitors from the Riley Ellipse at the center of campus into a bright atrium. The architectural focal point for the building, the atrium will open to the floors above and below.
• A significant increase in study seats and meeting rooms and a dedicated graduate student space.

Library will honor the life of John McCain

Arizona State University in Tempe is planning an 80,000-square-foot library to honor the life of the state's longtime senator, John McCain.

The state will receive a federal grant to help design and build the facility. The project will be built on a 22.5-acre site north of the university’s main Tempe campus that now is home to the university’s community services building.

The McCain National Library will honor McCain, who served as one of Arizona's U.S. senators from 1987 to his death in 2018. He also was the Republican presidential nominee in 2008.

The National Library will include archives for McCain’s papers and materials from his decades of work in Arizona, Washington and around the globe. A visitor’s center and an Arizona home for the Washington, D.C.-based McCain Institute are among other elements planned for the site.

The ASU Foundation will raise funds to support the development and enhancement of the site. The schedule and timeline for planning and development for the ASU project has not been established.

“John McCain was an exemplary leader who made a positive impact on many people nationally and within the ASU community” said ASU Foundation CEO Gretchen Buhlig. “Our development team will connect with donors who are passionate about the library’s offerings to serve ASU students and the greater community for years to come.”

Benedictine College is building an expanded library

Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, is building a 58,000-square-foot library.

The new library will house the college’s entire book collection, triple the study area allocated for students, and provide space for new classrooms, academic programs, and a coffee shop. The library will house the Center for Constitutional Liberty in addition to library staff.

The project will give Benedictine the space to preserve, expand and make available the historical and contemporary collections of more than 250,000 bound volumes, periodicals, and other resources.

The facility will have a museum-quality replica of the Independence Hall Assembly Room where the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed. The space will help tell the story of America’s founding in a hands-on, dynamic way to visiting regional students.

It will also feature living history exhibits; museum-quality presentations of the story of freedom with trained docents and historical interpreters. In addition, the library will have a reception hall with a catering kitchen.

The classically designed library will match the architecture on campus and will create a new campus quad and green space.