Olin College is radically reinventing the Library space in Milas Hall. The future Library will be an active hub of student life and learning that embodies Olin’s pedagogy, values and spirit. It will be a welcoming stop at our “front door” - a high-impact entrance experience celebrating Olin’s unique culture.

This is a two phase project. We are first creating a new Reading Room, after which we will set out to reinvent the rest of the Library.

A Library reinvented?While at once preserving and advancing broad information access and quiet study space, the new Olin Library will move beyond the traditional fixed programming and layout. It will be an agile, ever-evolving space accommodating a wide range of programming and services, traditional and new alike. We see the opportunity for our Library to be a beacon of innovation in keeping with the spirit of the college.

Why are you doing this?This is a natural progression of both developing the distinctive learning culture at Olin and continuously improving the college as an educational laboratory devoted to experimentation. The current design is traditional and doesn’t reflect the interdisciplinary, innovative and collaborative learning culture of Olin. The Library space should be an environment for self-directed, innovative learning, an incubator for ideas and a home for tools for the rapid realization of those ideas.

Who wants this to happen?The entire Olin community (alumni, students, faculty, parents and staff) has been calling for reimagining this space as the vibrant heart of the campus and event attendance has borne this out (see reverse).

What is going to happen in there?The Library environment will be equally oriented towards consuming and creating knowledge. It will house a wide variety of resources – not just books and digitized information, but also shared tools, technologies and consumeable materials that allow for hands-on exploration, learning and creative expression. For example, it will include professional video equipment, engineering instruments, power tools, 3-D printers, elec-tronic prototyping boards and more.

When is this going to happen?In the next three months, Olin will embark on two exciting first steps of the project. By the end of the summer, we will complete a programming and vision statement for the new space. Then over the summer, we will be kickstarting the groundbreaking initiative with a pilot project to trans-form a small part of the library into a quiet study space that we’re calling the Reading Room.

Reinventing the Olin Library

The Team: Aaron Hoover, Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Jeff Goldenson, Library Director; Annie Barrett, Architect

The Library and the Reading Room: The new Read-ing Room in blue hangs off the end of the library, providing natural acoustic isolation.

Footprint: Approximately 600 sq. ft., the new Read-ing Room will introduce a generous amount of new, purpose-built, quiet study space.

Natural light: Floor-to-ceiling windows cover the south-facing wall.

Renderings: Annie Barrett Studio

This summer, 2015?Yes, this summer, 2015! Construction on the Reading Room will start in July. The target date for completion is September; it will be completed and ready for use when students return to cam-pus in the fall.

What is the Reading Room?The Reading Room will be a quiet space for stu-dents seeking introspection, reflection and study. It will serve as an inspirational place where you can go to work and think in the presence of oth-ers.

Why is that what you’re doing first?Students have asked for and will always need quiet space to focus and study. Creating a purpose-built refuge will ensure this for years to come. Students know that these spaces are available at other schools, that such a space is missing from the Olin campus, and that it will enhance their educational experience.

Where will it be and what will it look like?It will be on the first floor, in the southeast cor-ner of the Library in Milas Hall. There are large, floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the campus, and it will be full of light and color.

What comes after the Reading Room?While it may seem counter-intuitive, our process has revealed the first step to exploring a radical future for the Library is to preserve the past. By ensuring quiet space and the traditional library experience our students so value, we are able to explore new directions for the rest of the library.

• “How-To” Hub: From student-led microcon-troller crash courses to professional digital media workshops, we envision students coming to the New Library not only “to learn,” but “to learn how.”

• Light Fabrication Studio: Light fabrication projects make up the majority of the cur-ricular demands. The New Olin Library will wrangle the equipment, materials and per-sonnel necessary to realize these projects in a collaborative, educational environment.

• Super-Curricular Amplifier: The Library will work with the community to host talks, pro-duce events, stage hackathons, and accom-modate design reviews to amplify & augment Olin’s mission and curriculum.

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

2015 Olin Retreat dedicated to exploring the future of the Olin Library

Launch of the ACRONYM, the Library’s wildly successful student-run pop-up cafe

Welcoming Greg Marra, ‘10 of Facebook as the Library’s first Micro Resident - 3-days of office hours for all

An Open, Community-Centered Process

May 2015

Annie Barrett, our architect, involves students in focused workshop on the future of the library

Stay Late and Create (SLAC) hosts inaugural SLACfest in the Library, Olin’s first festival of creativity

Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (AHS) Senior Capstone Open House in the library

March 2015

March 2015

July 2015

Olin Workshop on the Library Summer Design/Build Program Program launch with seven Olin student researchers

June 2015

September 2015

Library Programming Study for the new Olin Library Prepared and delivered by Annie Barrett Studio

Opening of the new Olin Reading Room Completing first step in Reinventing the Olin Library

Future

Erik Ryan, Leadership Gift Officer781.292.2298, erik.ryan@olin.edu