Plans for a new library area at the university are well on their way to becoming reality. The new area will serve a number of purposes and will be located east of the current Administration building. However, funding is dependent on the library being public.
"The new library has two purposes," stated Students’ Union Academic Commissioner Mark Counsell. "The first is to provide more space which is the number one issue. The second is that the new info and learning commons will go in there as well as some collaboration rooms or spaces."
The newest addition to the library emphasizes students meeting and discussing instead of taking out books and studying.
"It’s kind of a place where they can foster scholarly involvement, a place where the faculty, the students and to some degree the community can interact," said SU Vice-President Academic Demetrios Nicolaides.
A grant for the building comes from the provincial government, but this allotment comes on one condition: the library must be a public library.
"The provincial government gave them money on the grounds that the library would be available to the community," stated Counsell. "That doesn’t mean that the library will make any particular special efforts to accommodate the community."
However, some question the library’s accessibility to the community.
"It has always been our stand that everyone can use this library," said Acting Information Resources Director Yvonne Hinks. "The community is welcome to come in and that has always been the case."