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Columns

Posted by: laura_cooper on 10/23/2009 08:56 AM
Updated by: furlong on 10/23/2009 08:56 AM
Expires: 01/01/2014 12:00 AM

North Bay gets a piece of the ‘$1.4-billion pie’

The Education Centre's new Learning Library is being constructed at Nipissing University and Canadore College.

By Laura Cooper
theclaw.ca

Nobody knows what will happen to the current library space when the new library is built. Maybe it will be a media centre, a few extra offices, or maybe we’ll get lucky and score a... swimming pool? Probably not, but Canadore College and Nipissing University stand to gain a lot more than just extra space by next June.

Current library facilities at the institutions comprise only 25,000 square feet of space. With the new Learning Library campaign commenced, one can expect many useful upgrades to benefit students in the near future.

“The principal problem is we have nowhere to grow to, to keep up with the student numbers,” said Brian Nettlefold, Executive Director of Library Services in his strong Scottish accent.

“When you are in the middle of a building, it makes it very hard to expand.”

The two schools frequently rank high in annual surveys of Canadian colleges and universities done by Maclean’s magazine and the Globe and Mail, with predominantly low scores for the existing library facility.

“We actually asked [the Ontario government] for $16-million,” for the project, Nettlefold added,

“To everyone’s surprise they said ‘No, you should get $18-million because you have a great need to expand the library. Nipissing and Canadore are doing the right job bringing the two institutions together, making it easier for students to move from college to university.’”

“They wanted to reward us,” said Nettlefold, smiling.

Having received the money from the government’s $1.4-billion Ontario-wide investment for infrastructure renewal, Nettlefold explained that the schools were in dire need of raising the remaining $7-million to be able to fund the $25-million project.

Donations came in from groups such as Canadore and Nipissing families, students and alumni, as well as a generous donation from the Rotary Club of North Bay. Nettlefold also pointed out there were also several big donations from individuals and corporations.

BUCKS IN THE BANK

“I’m very happy to say that [the $7-million goal] has been achieved. The full money is in the bank, for the purpose of building the Learning Library,” he explained with a wide grin.

The new library was a long time coming, Nettlefold explained, and was an effort by a ‘whole lot’ of people, not just from the institutions, but also from the community.

“We are committed to supporting the community, providing memberships to the library at no charge.”

Some students have mixed feelings about the new library. Taylor MacIntosh, a fourth-year Bachelor of Education student at Nipissing University, is one of them. She said administrators have been talking of building the library since her first year.

“It’s frustrating to know I had to pay part for it and won’t get to use it, but I do understand it will go toward future generations.”

Shown plans for the new library, Mac Intosh’s demeanor brightened.

“I think it will be great once they do construct it; we have limited space [now] and limited resources,” she said, “and our books are dated.”

Another Nipissing student, James Harper, in his third year of Developmental Geography, agrees it will be great - once they do finish it.

“Well, I’m not going to be here to see it, so I don’t have much to say,” Harper said dryly. “But the pictures look great. Looks like it’ll be a fantastic place.”

The new library provides room for 220 students in collaborative workrooms and adds group instruction rooms along with over 500 individual study sections.

“The collaborative work rooms can hold up to six students working in groups; they have a large table and large flat-screen TV to connect their laptop to. So they can work on projects in their own area without disturbing others,” Nettlefold explained.

For the first time ever, the institutions will be able to properly archive historical documents, as well as, expand research archives and print collections.

The work started in the summer of 2009, and is still on schedule to be opened in June, 2011.

“We expect the shell of the building covered before winter starts so they have over a year to do the interior,” Nettlefold said excitedly,

“Expect students of the September 2011 [semester] will be using the new Learning Library.”