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The Library Design Committee, chaired by President McCartney worked with the team of Maya Lin Studio + Shepley Bulfinch to ensure that the college’s design and aesthetic ambitions for The new Neilson Library were realized in the context of its program requirements as well as the campus as a whole. The overall design was shared with the campus community in the fall of 2016. Neilson closed for construction in the summer of 2017 until the completion of the project in early 2021. Most of Neilson's collections were housed in the new Five College Library Annex in nearby Hatfield and books were brought to campus as requested throughout the construction period. Young Library served as the interim hub for library services and Special Collections for the duration of the project. See Project Timeline for an overview of project milestones.
Programming activity began in the spring of 2015, with data gathering and campus input from students, faculty, staff, and alumnae and continued through the summer and fall of 2015. For more information, see Program Committee Engagement Schedule Fall 2015.
These committees contributed to the planning and design of the library.
Charge: To identify and prioritize such building elements as user spaces, library services, physical collections, and academic support services and centers, and make recommendations to the president and board, who will make final decisions.
Charge: The Library Design Committee worked with the team of Maya Lin Studio + Shepley Bulfinch to ensure that the college’s design and aesthetic ambitions for the new Neilson Library were realized in the context of its program requirements as well as the campus as a whole.
The committee guided input from the Smith community to the design process and provided formal feedback to the Maya Lin + Shepley Bulfinch team at milestones throughout the design process. In addition, the committee was responsible for maintaining alignment between the program, design and budget.
Charge: To recommend a slate of potential architects to the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees.
Nancy Bradbury, Professor of English Language and Literature; Betty Eveillard, Chair, Board of Trustees; Christopher Loring, Director of the Libraries; Steve Moga, Assistant Professor of Landscape Studies; Katherine Rowe, Provost and Dean of Faculty (convener)
Patrick Coby, Professor of Government; Deborah Duncan '77, Chair, Board of Trustees; Barbara Kellum, Professor, Art Department; Rob O'Connell, Director of Discovery & Access; Beth Myers, Director of Special Collections (convener); Danielle Ramdath, Associate Dean of the Faculty; Amy Rhodes, Associate Professor, Geosciences; Pamela Skinner, Head of Collection Development; Maria Wood, Ada Comstock student
Sika Berger, User Experience Librarian; Sarah Evans '18; Kim Kono, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Literature; Barbara Polowy, Head of the Hillyer Art Library (convener); Maria Wood, Ada Comstock student
Charlie Conant, Senior Project Manager, Facilities Management; Nalini Easwar, Professor of Physics; Sarah Evans '18; Madeleine Fackler '80, Trustee; Anne Houston, Director for Teaching, Learning & Research; Elisa Lanzi, Director of Digital Strategies & Services; Thomas C. Laughner, Director of Educational Technology Information (convener); Christopher Loring, Director of the Libraries; Roger Mosier, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management; Cornelia Pearsall, Professor of English Language and Literature; Katherine Rowe, Provost and Dean of Faculty; Dano Weisbord, Director of Campus Sustainability and Space Planning
Martin Antonetti, Rare Books and Marketing/Outreach Director; Betsy Carpenter, Development and Campaign Director; Floyd Cheung, Associate Professor of English; Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer, Instructional Technologist; Anne Houston, Director for Teaching, Learning & Research (convener); Donna Lisker, Dean of the College and Vice President for Campus Life (subbed as needed by Tina Azengle, Senior Program Administrator to support student engagement); Miriam Neptune, Digital Scholarship Librarian; Judith Pelham '67, Trustee
Steve Moga, Assistant Professor of Landscape Studies; Roger Mosier, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management; Janet Spongberg, Josten Circulation Coordinator; Dano Weisbord, Director of Campus Sustainability and Space Planning (convener)
Anne Houston, Director for Teaching, Learning & Research (convener); Reese Julian, Circulation Manager; Elisa Lanzi, Director of Digital Strategies & Services; Thomas C. Laughner, Director of Educational Technology Information; Christopher Loring, Director of the Libraries; Beth Myers, Director of Special Collections; Rob O'Connell, Director of Discovery & Access
Martin Antonetti, Curator of Rare Books; Rosetta Cohen, Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Professor of Education & American Studies; Maida Goodwin, Collections Archivist; Beth Myers, Director of Special Collections (convener); Rob O'Connell, Director of Discovery & Access; Nanci Young, College Archivist
Anne Houston, Director for Teaching, Learning & Research; Elisa Lanzi, Director of Digital Strategies & Services; Christopher Loring, Director of the Libraries; Beth Myers, Director of Special Collections; Rob O'Connell, Director of Discovery & Access (convener); Barbara Polowy, Head of the Hillyer Art Library
The new Neilson Library offers us an unprecedented opportunity to imagine new directions through placed-based transformations of services, tools and collections.