Ohio State Reopens Renovated Library

NBC 4: After some 11 years of planning and three years of construction, the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library on the Ohio State University campus reopened Monday. A 1998 taskforce report called for the complete renovation of the library. More than $100 million later, the renovation has been completed on time and within budget.

The east entrance of the Thompson Library looks much like it has for the last hundred or so years. Walk in, though, and it’s a different story after some $108.7 million in renovations. “The building has been totally redone,” said project manager Wes Boomgaarden. “Every window is new. All of the electrical work is new. The air-handling systems are all new. We took out all of the asbestos. It’s an asbestos-free building. It’s all-new except for the outside look.“

Three years after work began, the library opened once again to the public with more than 222,000 renovated square feet and more than 83,000 square feet of new space. The space is filled with new computers, new furniture, new everything. One of the biggest changes to the Thompson Library is huge atriums on the east and west side of the book stacks tower.

“The old building was very dark, and a lot of students found it very scary because there were a lot of dark places. It wasn’t well lit. It wasn’t safe, didn’t have a fire safety system in the stacks tower,” Boomgaarden said.

The Grand Reading Room on the east end was restored completely as well. A second reading room on the west end also was added. It was clear the library is a hit with the students. The library seats almost 1,800 people. That’s double the number of previous seats.

Several new green elements were used in this project such as low-emissive coatings, recycled fabrics and computer-controlled interior shading. The library is open to the public. Materials cannot be checked out without a borrower’s card, though.