Many thanks to our Manawatū students and staff who joined the architects in discussions on the proposed plans in May. We really appreciated the engagement and suggestions made. The feedback has been collated and provided to the architects for the next design stage.
A recurring question was “will the Library be open while construction is happening?” The answer to this is most certainly yes. Construction is due to commence in the first half of 2022, focusing first on the front Library building. The Library is actually two buildings joined together – Library 1 in front faces the concourse and Library 2 at the rear faces the pond. From this time the Library will operate out of Library 2, with a new temporary entrance created to access that building. We will also be setting up some other Library study spaces on campus as well.
We are in the middle of planning where things will go, so we’ll be able to provide more details later in the year. In the meantime, you will be starting to see movements of our print collections as we prepare them for relocation into Library 2 and to our off-site storage elsewhere on campus. This will involve books being moved to different parts of the Library and shelves being respaced. If you have trouble locating an item please ask at the service point on Level 1. We will also be doing some of the works to create a new entrance over the summer semester when fewer people are using the building.