 "Photo: Lauren Gerson/The Daily Texan")
The Audio Visual Library will change homes this summer when it moves from the third floor of the Flawn Academic Center to the third floor of the E. William Doty Fine Arts
Building.
The library will close July 11 and reopen to students at the new site on Aug. 2. Faculty and staff members will be able to access the materials during the hiatus.
The third and the fourth floor of the FAC will be renovated to accommodate administrative offices such as those of the vice president for student affairs and the dean of undergraduate studies, said Steve Kraal, senior associate vice president of the Office of Campus Planning and Facilities Management. The development project will most likely take a couple of years or more to complete, he said.
Travis Willmann, a spokesman for UT Libraries, said that for the past few years, the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost has planned on reclaiming the space in the FAC.
The relocation and renovation will allow the University to combine the collections of the Audio Visual Library with the Fine Arts Library and upgrade library equipment, Willmann said. There will also be more rooms and tools available, he said.
The majority of current staff members will move with the building, Willmann said.
Library staff members declined to comment on the move, but several students who use the library expressed their preference for the current location.
English graduate student Lisa Gulesserian said she often rents movies over the weekend. This semester, she has visited the library about every two weeks for one of her classes.
“It’s really inconvenient,” Gulesserian said. “I work in the English department, so it’s easy to walk over [to the FAC]. The Fine Arts Building is just harder to get to.”
The Student Library Council brought up similar concerns before the move was finalized, Willmann said. Despite hearing some negative student reactions, Willmann said the FAC location has been an inconvenience to some students as well.
“We wanted to make the smoothest and most fiscally responsible transition,” Willmann said.
The Fine Arts Building is located next to the Performing Arts Center. Its library houses 300,000 books and scores, 40,000 CDs and 5,000 videos and DVDs. Willmann said the new library will streamline the services of both libraries and provide one place for students to access resources from both collections.
“I didn’t even know the Fine Arts Library had that sort of stuff,” said Izzy Macias, a radio-television-film and Spanish senior. “I guess I’ll still go there because I don’t have any other choice.”
Be the first to comment on this article!