By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Since 1967 the current Forsyth Library building on the Fort Hays State University campus has been a resource for students and the community. But as storage and consumption of information changed significantly with the advent of the internet, the building struggled to keep up.
But now, a major renovation looks to address that concern.
Beginning in the summer of 2024, work will begin on a $25 million overhaul of the facility, with an expected completion in 2026.
“If you think about the way we interact with information and how that has changed, the building was never designed for that,” said Ginger Williams, Dean of Library Services at Forsyth Library.
While the construction work is nearly a year away, planning has been ongoing.
“We are wrapping up the design phase right now. I would say it's about 98 percent set at this point,” Williams said.
The revamped facility will continue as a book repository, but other features and services will be added.
“I think when you step inside the renovated building a few years from now, you're not going to recognize Forsyth Library anymore as it is today,” Williams said.
While minor renovations have adapted the building to fill needs over the years, this project will bring together the facility, giving it a “cohesive look,” she said.
“We are really going to have the main floor transformed into a very active zone,” Williams said. “We're excited to bring in a cafe. We're excited to really feature the Writing Center.”
And looking back at the building’s historic purpose, books will also return to the first floor.
“We actually talked to students, and they said they want to see books and know that they're in a library,” Williams said.
Feedback from students also indicated a desire for more collaborative workspaces.
“Students have always had a need to find a place to study,” Williams said. “And I think we are going to see students just streaming in for all of the new study rooms.”
Natural lighting and books will be on full display in those rooms.
“That's what they told us,” Williams said. “Because that signals to them that this is a place I'm supposed to study, I'm supposed to get my work done. And it signals it's really time to get down to business.”
Programming is also top of mind as the plans come together.
“We are actually designing a really great event space that will be appropriate for lectures and other community events,” Williams said. “It's really hard to fathom if you haven't seen the plans, the scope of change that is coming to that building.”
The Institute for New Media Studies will also be inserted into the building alongside a media lab, the Makerspace and an audio booth.
“It'll be kind of a technology corridor,” Williams said.
Those features will be made more prominent through the redesign.
“Right now, the downstairs is not prime real estate at all,” Williams said. “It's pretty drab, but we're doing a lot of intentional work to make it exciting down there.”
A new amphitheater staircase will flow from the main entrance to the MakerSpace. Another hole will be cut, making the Institute for New Media Studies visible from the main floor.
Supporting the renovated facility, the project will also update building systems, like HVAC and electrical infrastructure.
A major renovation with a major cost
“This is no small thing,” said Alumni Office alumni director Carolyn Tatro. “A major renovation of a building is truly something that is hard to kind of swallow.”
But the majority of the project has already been paid for by a $19 million grant from the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
Their contribution will help with the renovation and ongoing maintenance costs in the future, she said.
Support for the remaining $6 million needed for the project is ongoing.
“This is a great opportunity to show passion for the library, passion for what students are doing,” Tatro said. “We were fortunate to receive this federal grant. And, you know, we are grateful for Senator Moran for helping the university secure this money, but it's going to take a little bit more effort.”
Part of the fundraising will include naming opportunities in the facility.
“We're lucky that we have one namespace so far, the Larry and Lyn Fenwick Reading Room, that'll be a major improvement to our special collections and university archives,” Williams said. “We've never had a true reading room before. And so they're giving us our first one.”
That space will be appropriately climate controlled and provide everything that rare materials need, she said.
While the work is ongoing, some services may relocate to other buildings to remain available. Williams said they will provide updates on the library website, fhsu.edu/library.
Williams said the project will help better serve the students and the community, even as life transitions more online daily.
“Libraries are more necessary now than I think they ever have been,” she said. “We're swimming in information right now, and we all need help figuring out how to manage that and how to access it.”
“We love being that academic hub and that center of intellectual discourse, and we want to bring people together to talk about things that are tough to talk about, but find a way to do that peacefully and with all the information we can.”