Campus Still Split Over the Library
La'Rhonda Swales
Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: News
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Henry unconsciously dwells on the four libraries that the University of New Hampshire had to offer its students.
"They had four huge libraries! It was like each library was made to suit every major," said Henry, 19.
Lincoln has one library - Langston Hughes Memorial Library - and it has been closed since December 2007 due to renovations.
University officials say the $17 million renovation project began almost a decade ago with an initial request to the Legislature. Since then there have been a series of setbacks, due to bureaucratic red tape. The state's budget woes have only complicated matters.
President Ivory V. Nelson said the library is expected to open next year.
"The end of 2010 is our expectation date, but don't hold that to me," Nelson said in a recent interview with the editorial board of The Lincolnian.
But some students say that the closing of the library has affected how they study and the modules, a cramped 5,000-square-foot facility next to Lincoln Hall that now serves as the temporary library, does not help. Students say they still have access to library material but there is at least a one day delay in getting that material from library personnel.
It's a trailer park!" said Henry, referring to the temporary library.
The Langston Hughes library was built in 1972 in honor of poet Langston Hughes, a Lincoln alumnus. But before then, Vail Hall, which now houses administrative offices and meetings, was the original library.
The 37-year-old library has 75,000 square feet and served as a study auxiliary, and a place where students were able to check out academic books, journal articles and leisure novels.
The library has four levels, 26 rooms, more than 75 computers and a Special Collections section located in the lower basement, which housed the original works and writings of Langston Hughes.
Except for minor plumbing and other minor work, the library's original structure and design has not been renovated, university officials said.
The old library had heating problems, which deteriorated books, according to Tracey J. Hunter Hayes, who is the library director.
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