Salem State College library to be closed indefinitely

SALEM – Just days after Gov. Deval Patrick proposed a $41 million renovation to the Salem State College library, the State Division for Capitol Asset Management (DCAM) has ordered the college to temporarily close down the aging facility because of structural concerns.SSC President Patricia Maguire Meservey announced Monday that the library would be closed indefinitely while structural concerns are addressed.”Our top priority is the safety of our students, faculty and staff, as well as visitors to our campus,” Meservey said in a press release. “We recognize that closing the library will significantly impact our entire campus community. However, it is the right thing to do, and we are taking every possible step to minimize disruptions. Over the next week we will assess whether or not there are any approaches that will safely permit the use of certain areas in the building.”According to the press release, the 120,000 square foot library built in 1969 serves an estimated 3,000 students each day, while also housing 90 faculty and staff. The college’s learning center and several academic support functions, along with several classrooms, are also housed in the building.Structural concerns are related to a combination of factors, including the original design of the building, the building’s age and current condition, and the weight distribution of reference materials throughout the facility.”In light of safety concerns, closing the library is the right step to take at this time,” said DCAM Commissioner David B. Perini. “In the meantime, we will continue to support President Meservey and the Board of Higher Education in addressing the college’s urgent space needs, and to determine the appropriate course of action for the library going forward.”Just last week, Patrick announced a $2 billion funding plan earmarked for all state-run colleges and universities. The plan designated $41 million for Salem State to put toward a renovation and modernization of the library. Meservey said at the time that structural engineers were performing a study on the building to determine whether it would be more cost-effective to build a new building or to gut and renovate the current structure.The college has undergone an extensive facelift in the last five years, improving its Central Campus with new dormitories and a new business and music wing constructed in the former Sylvania building, along with a new athletic field, driveway repairs and renovations to dormitory elevators.Meservey said that the school still has several buildings in need of repair and modernization, but if Patrick’s bill passes through legislature the library would be next on the list.The college is in the process of developing a response plan, expected to be completed within the next few days, to help mitigate the impacts of the library’s closure. The planning will include identification of alternative space that could be used to house services currently located within the library.Although many of the college’s reference resources are available online, the response plan will also outline ways in which college students and faculty can access books from other campuses in the region. This effort will be coordinated through the State Board of Higher Education (BHE), which oversees the Commonwealth’s public higher education system.There is no timeline for the repair and opening of the facility. The college said that further evaluation would be completed in the coming weeks to determine what actions would be needed to safely reopen the library.