The goal of our new library facility is to strengthen the delivery of traditional library services while providing students and faculty with the resources to navigate the global information arena and promote interdisciplinary learning. 

 

Capital Priorities and Preparing Our Students for the 21st Century

Need for a new Library Facility

The St. Edward’s library serves as both a repository of information and a catalyst of learning and knowledge creation. Students come to the library not only to access materials, but to learn how to select, evaluate and utilize information. These are skills that promote lifelong learning.

 

St. Edward’s has maintained a library collection since its founding. The first dedicated library building was constructed in 1953. By 1979, more space was needed and a generous gift from board member Lavon Philips enabled the university to significantly enlarge the building to become the Scarborough-Phillips Library. Now, a major expansion is again essential. Our student enrollment has more than doubled and technology has changed the way our students collaborate and learn and access information.

 

 

     

 

Lavon Phillips at the opening of Scarborough-Phillips Library in 1979. 

 

Because our library impacts the educational experience of every student at

St. Edward’s, the construction of the new Munday Library and Learning Commons and renovation of our Scarborough-Phillips Library is a top capital priority. 

 

 

Project Highlights and Impact 

The new Munday Library and Learning Commons will be integrated with the existing Scarborough-Phillips Library structure so that the entire complex functions cohesively. The completed 53,198-square-foot facility will nearly double the library’s current size and will enable the university to incorporate state-of the-art technology and best-practice design to provide our students with a library that reflects 21st century learning and teaching.

 

The project will include:

• Construction of the Munday Library and Learning Commons — The two-story, 25,850-square-foot addition will transform the library into a landmark campus center for study, research, group activities and distance learning. A central reference desk will provide students a clear source of help with research, digital media and reserve materials. Study spaces will accommodate students from all disciplines, from a group of psychology students who need a meeting room large enough to work collaboratively on a case statement to an individual MBA student who needs to spread out research to write a paper.

• Renovation of the Scarborough-Phillips Library — Approximately 27,348-square-feet of the existing library will be reconfigured to create alignment with the new Munday Library. The glass wall feature of the new central entry space will enable the second floor general print collection to be immediately apparent on arrival to the library. Traditional reading rooms flanking the collection will provide space for students to study in quiet solitude.

• Global Digital Classrooms — Classroom space will include four global digital classrooms to provide HD-quality video conferencing between Austin and the university’s partner institutions around the world. 

• Archives and Special Collections — Relocating the university’s archives and special collections to a welcoming ground floor space will make these resources more available and encourage future donors to entrust valuable collections to the university.

• Student Services — Expanded space will enable the existing Writing Center and Media Center to move to a central location in the library to help students hone their communication skills using an ever-evolving array of technologies with a continued focus on the fundamentals of rhetoric.

• Digital Literature Collection — An expanded digital literature collection will provide on-campus and distance access to the latest scholarly research in e-book format. 

 

 

                 

Design and Construction

St. Edward’s has selected Sasaki Architects, the firm responsible for creating and maintaining the university’s Campus Master Plan, to design the new library. The project is led by Bryan Irwin, AIA, LEED® AP, a Sasaki principal with more than 25 years of experience. Mr. Irwin focuses primarily on libraries and learning environments; his design for the Earl S. Richardson Library at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland was named “Best of the Best in Higher Education Facilities for 2008” by McGraw-Hill Publications.

 

 

 

 

 

For additional information, or to make a gift in support of the construction of the Munday Library and Learning Commons and the renovation of Scarborough-Phillips Library, please contact Anne Westdyke at 512.492.3147 or anneew@stedwards.edu.    Thank you.