Category: Uncategorized

It’s been a very exciting few months at Forsyth Library! To recap, the entire library team relocated in May to our home away from home, Custer Hall. Some staff will remain in Custer until Phase 1 (the largest portion of our construction project) is complete – for more than a year. A few brave folks and the Welcome Desk are moving back into Forsyth Library this week. Fear not – they won’t be in the construction zone! They will, however, have noisy neighbors as the crews continue making progress on our renovation.

At this point, you wouldn’t recognize Forsyth Library if you went into the areas where demolition is complete. Aside from a small untouched area that includes our Welcome Desk and Special Collections & University Archives, the main and second floors are now vast, spacious, and entirely devoid of interior walls. Nothing but concrete from floor to column to ceiling. No ducts, wiring, or pipes. It has been incredible watching the debris come out of the building. The lower level is becoming emptier and emptier every day, with a temporary wall protecting the general collection so that authorized staff can retrieve books to have them ready for patrons to pickup at the Welcome Desk.

We’re also really enjoying working with our colleagues in Facilities Planning and the PWC team. We’d heard from other libraries that this was going to be difficult. While that was probably true for their projects, our experience has been getting quick responses, communicating effectively and often, finding solutions that work well for everyone, and being a respected part of the team. We’re thankful to have such great partners.

Starting August 19, patrons will visit Forsyth Library amidst the dust and construction sounds to checkout technology and pickup books when their holds and interlibrary loan materials are ready. Students, faculty, and staff will use the northeast accessible entrance that leads to a small public use area with our Welcome Desk. The public use area has temporary walls that protect it from the construction zone, so no hard hats are required! The rest of the library staff will continue to have offices located in Custer Hall, with the Media Lab located in Custer Hall 310 by reservation only. More details to come.

We’re looking forward to seeing how our blank slate develops as the new spaces take shape. We will keep you posted throughout and we appreciate you cheering us on as we share these updates!

On August 8, 2024, a major milestone was made on the Forsyth Library Renovation. Crews cut through layers of roofing material above the south stairwell to prepare for the skylight that will serve as a column of light above the stairs. Even on a rainy day, the natural light from above flooded into the building that has been demolished down to concrete floors, ceilings, and columns.  Now, crews will be able to use the roof access to remove the stairs themselves and construction debris from the lower level. Watch the video for a sneak peek at this major transformation!

Libraries are for everyone, and the renovation will align the physical building with the organizational values that Forsyth Library upholds. In addition to all the spaces that promote student success and lifelong learning, several spaces were designed specifically with accessibility and inclusion in mind.

• The art at the Welcome Desk will greet visitors in languages from around the world, including the languages of FHSU’s cross-border partners
• At the central elevator core of each level of the library, two all-gender restrooms will be added, providing accessible single-stall facilities for visitors. An infant changing table will also be available in each single-stall restroom.
• A Mommy & Me lactation room, located at the central elevator core on the main level, will provide a private space for new mothers to feed infants or pump. The locking room will be equipped with a  comfortable chair, a sink, and a side table.
• A contemplation room, located at the central elevator core of the lower level, will provide a dedicated place for meditation, mindfulness, and/or religious practices.
• A campus organization lounge, located on the south side of the lower level, will provide an informal meeting and collaboration space for any student organization to use for meetings, events, and informal gatherings; the lounge will accommodate up to 16 people.
• Both the north and south entrances are getting updated to be wheelchair accessible.

Many of these inclusive spaces reflect the library’s core values and symbolically are located at the central core of the building. With these new features, the renovation will make Forsyth Library a more welcoming place for all members of the university and surrounding community.

Library instruction has a positive impact on student success (Gaha, Hinnefeld & Pellegrino, 2018; Bowles-Terry, 2012; Wong and Cmor, 2011). Librarians at Forsyth Library collaborate with instructors to provide library instruction, teaching information literacy, research skills, and lifelong learning skills that students can transfer to other courses and apply beyond their time at FHSU. Library instruction is available to faculty, staff, and students of Fort Hays State University, and to schools in the surrounding area. Each year, the librarians at Forsyth Library teach an average of 140 instruction sessions that serve over 2,800 students. Instruction sessions vary by topic but tend to focus on the concepts of finding, evaluating, and using information for discipline-specific and academic purposes.

In the newly renovated library, there will be two classroom spaces to provide teaching environments and learning spaces for library instruction.

On the upper level, there will be a classroom on the southeast corner that will offer flexible seating for up to 24 people. In addition to being used for library instruction, this space will be available for professional development events, trainings, and workshops.

On the lower level, there will be a computer lab classroom near the west side that will have high-end computer stations for accommodating classes of up to 24 people. In addition to being used for library instruction, this space will also be used by the Institute for New Media Studies to teach video game classes and other advanced computing workshops.

For larger groups, the main-floor presentation space will accommodate up to 112 people. It features three presentation screens and flexible seating arrangements.

Whether the instruction session is a workshop in the computer lab with hands-on experience searching the library’s 230+ research databases, a library tour, or a classroom session that is more conducive to active learning activities, students will leave feeling more confident in the research process and using the resources and services at Forsyth Library.

For weeks, construction crews have been working on scaffolds and lifts, chiseling away the exterior stones to make room for where the first of many large windows will be installed during this renovation. This week, they broke through on the second level, exposing the interior of the library to the outside world to prepare for the window installation. This will be one of two substantial windows that will enhance the western elevation of the building:

Have you seen some of the renovation renderings of the new Forsyth Library and wondered, “where will this be exactly?” … “will this be on the main level?” … “I still can’t visualize how the stairs will be different …”

PGAV Architects provided video views to give a panoramic glimpse to many of our renovation renderings. Focusing on the entrance and the main level features, each rendering spans left and right to show the open floorplan and large windows that are planned throughout the building. It’s a great way to connect the various renderings together to give you the best (virtual) glimpse of the renovation we have so far!

Back in February, the first of the Forsyth Library staff members started moving over to Custer Hall. By May, the last the staff members moved to Custer as Forsyth Library became a construction site.

Custer Hall was built in 1922 and is located near McMindes Hall. In the original wing of the building, the library staff now occupy some of the garden level, all of the second level, and all of the third level. The Welcome Desk is located in Custer Hall 304 and the Media Lab is located in Custer Hall 310. Signage throughout Custer Hall leads patrons to the right direction for these new locations.

Many staff enjoy the new walking path and crossing Jellison Bridge each day. Some of our staff have sewn custom curtains for their office, while others have hauled in rugs and other décor to feel more add some library flair and get settled. Being 100+ years old, the building has some character and charm: offices on the second floor have extra tall ceilings, some offices have green carpet, others have gray carpet, there’s even a fireplace in the temporary breakroom!

Our friendly, new neighbors in the building include the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science and the University Police Department. This side of campus is lively when students are on campus because it falls along a main route from the residence halls to class – especially during meal times or passing periods.

Natural light is one of the best things about Custer Hall. With at least one window in every office, you see a lot more (healthy) office plants – some staff are even trying their luck at having a live office plant for the first time! Coincidentally, natural light is the most common request we got during the 2022 library renovation input sessions, so when the library moves back to the renovated building, there will be large windows throughout the library and intentionally designed placement of offices and study spaces to maximize the use of natural light throughout the building.

Another benefit of Custer Hall is the closer proximity of library staff offices. In the old Forsyth Library, staff offices were sprawled across the three levels within the 100,000+ square foot building, so you got your steps in by just walking to different meetings or to pop into someone’s office. Now our staff can walk down the hallway and interact with one another.

When the library moves back to the renovated building, offices will be arranged in pods with cross-functional teams having offices in close proximity to one another. On the main level, the public services pod will house the access services, outreach,  interlibrary loan staff, and the teaching and research team. On the upper level, the dean and the administrative specialist will have a suite of offices on the southwest side of the floor, while the digital curation and special collections and archives teams will occupy a pod of offices adjacent to the reading room, the vault, and the digitization lab. On the lower level, the collections pod will house the acquisitions, e-resources, and resource development team members.

Here are some photos of our temporary offices in Custer:

If all of the floor plans and text descriptions of the collaboration spaces, meeting spaces, and individual study rooms still haven’t painted a clear picture in your mind, here are a few new renderings to see how the newly renovated library will look with several of the colors and finishes applied.

There are new exterior views that focus on the 270° windows that will surround the lobby and provide panoramic views of the beautiful limestone campus. As requested in the 2022 input sessions, natural light seeps in from multiple directions in the various renderings of the lobby that leads to the entrance to the presentation space. An axon rendering of the north stairwell shows how the quarter-turn stairs will serve as columns of light, incorporating exterior windows and glass railings to accentuate the open air space. In the new rendering of the café and Writing Center, you can imagine that space filled with smells and buzzing with sounds of students grabbing a bite before class. The new renderings also provide a fresh glimpse of the areas for special collections and archives, including the Larry and Lyn Fenwick Reading Room. The rendering of the Honors College lounge shows how the intimate study space was specifically designed for a community of engaged learners. The axon renderings for the learning stair shows the dramatic way that the main level and lower level will be connected by sight, light, and sound as the amphitheater stairs lead down to the Makerspace and the Institute for New Media Studies along the technology zone on the lower level.

We can’t wait to see it in person!

The demolition crew has been busy getting Forsyth Library ready for construction. A construction fence was put up around the perimeter of the building, giving a visible signal to any passerby that the project has started.

Built-in desks, display cases, and fixtures have been detached and taken away. Walls to staff offices, group study rooms, and more have been knocked down. Ceiling tiles have been taken down to expose a higher ceiling and the HVAC, electrical, and conduits. If you recall the layout and look of the former Forsyth Library, these photographs will bring you up to speed with the current state of the building:

Most of this demolition work has been done on the main level. Shelving is being carefully disassembled and removed on the upper level. Temporary construction walls will soon be built around the compact shelving area to allow demolition and construction to take place on the east side of the lower level.

When Forsyth Library staff are out and about or networking with community members, parents, and FHSU alumni, we occasionally get the question: “Do students still use the library?”

The short answer is, yes.

This video is proof:

This video wasn’t planned. It organically stemmed from a larger video project led by FHSU University Marketing to promote specific academic programs by interviewing FHSU students about their experiences. The videographers asked the same set of questions to each student, and to their surprise, when asked about their favorite place on campus, nearly every interview sounded the same. The common response: “the library.”

When University Marketing mentioned the “library trend” they were seeing in the video project, our ears perked up, and we asked them to compile those responses into a video as a testament to the impact that Forsyth Library has on students.

The library can mean be so many things to a student: the quiet place to study, the trusted resource for information, the helpful staff that guides them through the mire of their first big research project, the technology checkout that saves their paycheck for other things like rent, their place of employment, their place for belonging, and much much more.

This video is a good reminder that the library renovation is for the students. We can’t wait to make their favorite place on campus even better.

What is your favorite place on FHSU’s campus?