McKeldin redesign underway after student input garnered

While students typically travel to the library for a quiet place to focus, a group of students is working to give the study space the amenities and comfort of an apartment.

Since McKeldin Library was given a $50,000 donation last semester, students from the anthropology and architecture departments have collaborated with library officials to redesign the building's interior. To make sure students enjoy the new space as much as possible, students in ANTH606: Qualitative Methods in Applied Anthropology conducted a study aimed at determining what improvements students want to the campus' biggest library — and found they wanted more interactive spaces to help facilitate studying.

"The goal is to make [McKeldin] more useful, to redesign it to meet the students' needs," said Michael Paolisso, the anthropology class' professor. "How can the library be supportive of the wide range of school work?"

The anthropology students said they interviewed more than 90 students, both in the library and around the campus, and spent time observing how students interacted with each other and the library's resources. In addition to new spaces, students want the library to offer features that would allow them to adjust lighting or rearrange tables to accommodate group or individual needs, according to the study.

"It's about control," Libraries Dean Patricia Steele said. "Students want to be more comfortable in the library."

While Steele said redesigning the interior to fit students' needs will not happen overnight, she said the study provided other suggestions that can be made right away, such as adding microwaves and creating ways to make it easier for students to determine which areas are designated for group work and which spaces are for individual studying.

"There are ranges of things we can give students sooner rather than later, and that was encouraging," Steele said. "We don't have to wait for a full-scale renovation to do some things."

The redesign will also attempt to accommodate as many students as possible, Steele said, by providing a variety of resources students need for their individual majors. The study also found students want more natural light, more electrical outlets and a friendlier atmosphere that can be modeled off the recent redesign of the second floor of the library.

Now that students have taken the first step in beginning to remodel the library's interior, the anthropology students are compiling the data into a report, which they will share with an architecture class. In the spring, the architecture students will begin in-depth designs to improve the library based on student recommendations.

Some students, including junior electrical engineering major Heather Zion, said while they like the current layout, McKeldin does not always feel like a library.

"I wish there were nicer quiet study areas," Zion said. "The second floor is a comfortable place to study but it's always so loud and crowded."

While many students are focused on offering suggestions, anthropology graduate student Ennis Barbery, who is part of the redesign effort, said he is grateful to contribute to an initiative that will directly impact students.

"Having the opportunity to do this project, where our findings will make a difference, for us as students that's huge," she said.

israel@umdbk.com