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BY ROSARIO PAZ

In print | October 5, 2006

The college is considering significant renovations to Underhill Music Library in an effort to provide an enhanced library environment for music students. According to College Librarian Peggy Seiden, the budget proposal is still in the planning process, but the construction is most likely to begin in the summer of 2007.

According to Seiden, the renovations will focus on improving the general atmosphere of the library and facilitating more effective student use of the available materials.

A committee comprising both students and faculty has played a key role in the planning of the proposed renovations. Seiden said that the committee has been working hand-in-hand with a couple of architects in organizing what are believed to be necessary improvements to Underhill’s current system.

“It’s a great process,” Seiden said. “The architects work with us in a broad sense — in looking at it as an entire project.”

Underhill has been undergoing minor improvements over the last seven years, opening up more space for materials on the lower level and improving the flooring by replacing the carpeting. Performing Arts Librarian Donna Fournier has been working on the full-scale renovation proposal that is currently under consideration.

A major change to which Seiden and the rest of the committee would like to draw attention is the changing position of the circulation desk.

Currently, students working at the Underhill Music Library are positioned at the front desk. “If people needed more help than just that of a student’s, it would be a pain,” Seiden said. “I always wanted to have the offices near the front of the library.”

Also proposed is a change in the shelving system to compact shelving, in response to the contemporary needs of music students. “Technology is changing,” Seiden said. “We were just running out of space.”

According to Seiden, the new system will also lend itself to shelving music scores “in order to open up some space for growth in the book collection.”

Several other changes that are being discussed by the committee include digitizing audio files, repurposing the seminar room to a computer/composing room, group video viewing and the general bolstering of a “collaborative multimedia work space.”

“I think [the changes] will make Underhill a more inviting place for people who do group work,” Micaela Baranello ‘07, a music student representative on the committee, said. "It’ll be spiffier and more comfortable. Everything will be more efficient and user-friendly."

In addition to improvements to the workings of the library, there will be several more aesthetic improvements including new furnishings, more table space and carrels for those working on their senior theses.

“Underhill has always been a purple library,” Seiden said. However, Seiden acknowledged that the purple chairs will most likely be replaced during the renovations.

“It’ll be really sad to see the purple chairs go,” Baranello admitted.

Several other students less familiar with the committee’s plan for the library’s renovation feel that the funding which will be used for library changes could be better used for general improvements to the music building as a whole.

“Some smaller changes in the building would go a longer way,” Charles Inniss ‘09 said, citing more efficient temperature regulation, piano renovations and chairs without arms to obstruct the typical music student’s practice, as some of the improvements music majors who spend a lot of time in the building would like to see.

According to Seiden, the committee is still in the process of actualizing the budget plans. “The funds for the actual construction have not yet been approved,” she said, although “the funds for the design work were approved last year and we have been working with the architect since the summer to develop a schema.”

Seiden said she expects the Board of Managers will provide a confirmation of the budget proposal in February or March.

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