1. Transforming the 45-year-old Nash Library & Student Learning Commons, Gannon University, Erie, PA, involved the addition of a tech support center, a café (with fireplace), a presentation studio, an expanded archives reading room, a 28-seat computer lab, outdoor seating and patio, and a green roof.

CREDITS: Buehler & Associates, architect; Andrew Lapiska, Gannon University Marketing and Communications Dept, photo.
 

2. The remodeled Bizzell Memorial Library–Zarrow Family Faculty and Graduate Student Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, presents a new creative experience. Its lounge has a fireplace and furniture to encourage conversation; Eames chairs are surrounded by new journals; and full-length windows face a beautiful garden.

CREDITS: REES Associates, Inc., architect; ©2017 Joseph Mills Photography, photo.
 

3. The Idea Lab at DeWitt Wallace Library, Macalester College, St. Paul, is a Maker space and collaboration hub where students can “play, build, make, tinker, and invent.” It includes group study rooms, interactive tech, whiteboard walls, and flexible furnishings to accommodate a variety of learning styles.

CREDITS: HGA Architects and Engineers, architect; Corey Gaffer Photography, photo.
 

4. How to update a 20th-century modernist structure for the world of today? The $29.3 million renovation of the Auraria Library, University of Colorado, Denver, encompasses an innovation garage, a new computer lab, open study cubes, and a second-floor quiet study room that presents a noise- and food-free environment. Silence those cell phones!

CREDITS: studiotrope Design Collective, architect; David Lauer Photography, photo.