UA Shows Off Recent Renovations To Historic McLure Library

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The University of Alabama is touting recently completed renovations to McLure Library as the new school year kicks off at the Capstone.

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UA says the McLure Library addition and renovation project allowed for the relocation of the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) from the seventh floor of Gorgas Library to McLure, which was in line with the Gorgas Library master plan.

McLure Library was originally built in 1925 and was first renovated in 1954 for the College of Education Library. The recent renovations addressed deferred maintenance issues, including the addition of all-new mechanical, electrical, accessibility, life safety systems and technology, while also addressing building envelope issues such as new windows.

Renovations also included improved Americans with Disabilities Act access, the addition of space for code-required vertical circulation and a new elevator.

School of Library and Information Studies Director Jamie Naidoo expressed his excitement for the transition and also spoke to the challenges faced in the renovation process.

“We had over 50-something years’ worth of student files and archives and things like that to move, but it’s been an awesome opportunity to rethink what it would be like to be in a bigger space,” he said. “So I think one of the things we’re most excited about is just having so much more visibility and so much more space.”

Naidoo explained that the book arts program was previously held in two and a half rooms but will now occupy the entire first floor of McLure Library, which will serve the program’s Master of Fine Arts in book arts, as well as its book arts minor.

“I think the biggest [change] in terms of for students is the number of spaces that we have for undergraduate book arts education,” he said. “Before, they were sharing a space with our master’s students, and so we could only have a limited number of students in class, only at a certain time that didn’t conflict with our master’s classes, and so now they have dedicated space and we have a lot more opportunity just to kind of spread out.”

He then said the second floor will be exhibition space for some of the program’s book arts products that students create, along with some of the projects created by faculty.

“And then third floor, we have a reading room for children’s literature, so that will support our children’s literature undergrad classes, and we have some classrooms,” Naidoo said. “By us having more visibility, more people may be more curious about us and what we do, and so I think it could open up more opportunities for interdisciplinary research, be it among faculty in other departments or students with other students in other places.”

Here's a look at the renovations

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