Citing Structural Concerns, Salem State College Closes Library
Andrew Albanese -- Library Journal, 10/22/2007
The library at Salem State College (SSC), Salem, MA, was ordered closed by the college's president October 15 after state officials said they could not guarantee the structural integrity of the building. At the recommendation of the state Division of Capital Asset Management, SSC president Patricia Maguire Meservey immediately closed the library for at least one week, and until further notice. She acknowledged that "closing a key academic building, the library," posed a great challenge to the university. This is especially problematic for the library at SSC, which also houses classrooms, support centers such as the university's learning center, and academic advising, as well as faculty offices.College spokesperson Karen Cady told LJ that the building was not determined to be unsafe but rather that engineers were simply unable to properly determine the library's true condition. "There was no imminent catastrophic failure of the building," Cady said. "But the engineers called and said we have serious concerns for which we don't have answers and we can't get them for awhile." The building "has always had issues," Cady said, recalling corrective projects started immediately when the library opened in 1969. "There was a lot of remediation work in the 70s, and through the years specific areas have always been problematic," Cady says. "We have done a lot of patchwork analyses and fixed problems in various parts of the building."
Administrators have reassigned classes scheduled to meet in the library to new locations, and are busy finding space for faculty offices and devising a plan to deliver library services. Librarians were initially scattered among different academic departments. For the short term, Cady said the plan for offering library service will include utilizing nearby public libraries and "sister institutions," such Middlesex Community College, Northern Essex Community College, and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. The library will also take advantage of its electronic collections, including more than 30,000 full-text journals. Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, meanwhile, earmarked $41 million for a library renovation at SSC in his education bond bill this month.
