The Online Reflector

Vice President for University Advancement James Smith has been working with a committee to raise funds for renovations to the University of Indianapolis Krannert Memorial Library.

Phase one of the campaign is focused on the Institute for Civic Leadership and the Mayoral Archives. UIndy currently holds the records of four mayors.

“We need to greatly improve our archival capacity,” Smith said. “We need to be able to properly archive, secure, store and digitize these records because the other thing we know is that Indianapolis has this remarkable story to tell, and we feel like we have the records to tell that story.”

The campaign’s quiet phase during the first six months of the year was mostly among current trustees and some former trustees. This phase raised more than  $1 million in commitments, and the overall goal is $7.5 million.

“We were very pleased, because this sends a message to other people that we are going to be approaching now in the public phase of the campaign that the university’s trustee leadership is absolutely behind this project, and that’s a very important message to get out there,” Smith said.

Smith described the Institute for Civic Leadership and the Mayoral Archives as not only for the students but also for citizens of Indianapolis and other cities to come learn the story of Indianapolis.

“We bear the city’s name,” Smith said. “There are some other fine institutions of higher learning [in Indianapolis] certainly, but we feel that we have the opportunity to establish ourselves as the one who’s really positioned to be highly integrated in the community here.”

The campaign committee is beginning to make calls on individuals, corporations and families throughout the city, some had a giving relationship with the university before, while others have not. Phase one of the renovations, according to Smith, will be a 15 to 16 month effort, and the committee is looking to wrap that up at the end of 2012.

In addition to renovations for the Institute for Civic Leadership and the Mayoral Archives, the whole first floor of the library will be renovated, except for the president’s suite. UIndy is currently in the design development stage with local architectural firm BDMD to come up with a plan. According to Chief Information Officer of Information Systems Jeff Russell, there are plans for having a small-or medium-sized venue for presentations, changing the 24-hour space and finding a way to combine the Help Desk, Media Services and the Circulation Desk.

Smith and Russell both said that there is a great need to renovate the library because of the way academic libraries are changing.

“Buildings that hold whole lots of books are probably what we need,” Smith said. “You [students] get all your information online.”

The second part of the renovation plan will be focused on making the library more useful for students, faculty and members of the community.

According to Russell, in the next phases of the library renovations, there  also are plans for the second and third floors. There have been focus groups of students in the past and will be again this fall to try to find out how students want to see the space used. Russell said that from the first set of focus groups, they learned that students liked the social group areas on the first floor and preferred the quiet environment on the third floor with a mix in between. He also said that they are working with Ted Polk to see about having a little coffee shop or café somewhere in the library.

“That [coffee shop or café] will make the space more comfortable for students, especially from what we’ve heard from commuter students who sit out here [in the parking lots] and eat their McDonald’s before they go in to class,” Russell said.

Russell also said they plan to showcase more student art in the library and might even include a music venue. They also want to make the building greener in general.

Russell said the renovations will take at least three to four phases, so the building won’t have to be shut down and will still be able to be used academically. He said that remodeling will start late next spring or summer at the earliest, but will depend on the campaign.