Robert Cichewicz said he instantly noticed a difference when he entered the new Biomedical and Physical Sciences Library on Monday.
“This one smells better,” the horticulture graduate student said. “It’s clean, it’s new, it’s pristine.”
Cichewicz, who previously used the now-closed Chemistry Library, was one of more than 300 people who used the library on its first day in operation.
The facility, on the ground floor of the new Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building, combines the Chemistry and Physics libraries into one location. It also includes biomedical books and resources from the Main Library.
Branch libraries coordinator Nancy Lucas, who is in charge of the new facility, said the 10-day moving process was not a small task.
“We’ve been planning for well over a year,” Lucas said.
“When we moved last week, we had the whole library involved in the move.”
The library is the first facility to open in the new $93 million building. A grand-opening ceremony for the 362,700 square foot building is scheduled for April 12.
The building also will include areas for microbiology, physiology, cancer research and teaching and research labs.
On March 1, teams of about 20 library staff members moved hundreds of carts into the facility. Some carts traveled by truck, and others, weighing up to 600 pounds each, were wheeled over from the neighboring Chemistry Building.
The staff completed the move Sunday.
“We often move ourselves because we know how to do it,” Lucas said.
Combining the two collections required accounting for and cataloging each of the 103,500 items the new library contains.
Lucas said the move was a lot of hard work, but the effort was well worth it.
“We’re really excited to be here and serve this different group of folks,” she said.
In addition to combining the resources of two libraries, the new facility features individual study areas with laptop computer Internet connections and group study areas.
The facility also provides 24-hour access to faculty and graduate students.
“They’re able to come right down and get what they need,” Lucas said.
Faye Backie, assistant director of libraries for public services, said the library was designed with convenience in mind.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to bring two libraries that were in rather aging facilities into a brand-new space,” she said.
“We’re really lucky to have a talented staff who planned very well and managed to orchestrate it.”
Tylease Fitzgerald spent two years working in the Physics Library.
Monday was her first day inside the new facility.
“It’s a lot better than the old library,” the psychology and political science senior said. “Everything’s new and modern.”
Fitzgerald said she’s looking forward to learning a lot of new things and getting settled in to the new stacks of books and space-saving shelves.
The only trick is spitting out the facility’s five-word name when answering the phone.
“That’s a mouthful, to say the least,” she said.
