NGL Renovation 2020: Home

Renovation Rationale

Since opening in 1969 the Newton Gresham Library has undergone only minor renovations to address immediate needs and changes to the campus curriculum and culture. The current project serves as a major rethinking of the library and its role on Sam Houston State University’s campus. A key motivation is the consolidation and integration of the University’s Academic Success Center into the library. The combination of the Newton Gresham Library and Academic Success Center demonstrates a key evolutionary trend in University Libraries – moving away from a facility viewed solely as a repository for books and documents, and towards a recognition of the library as a comprehensive academic and scholarly learning center.

Project Highlights

• Enhanced entries on both 1^st and 2^nd floors.
• New Academic Success Center (ASC) collaboration, instructional, offices, and tutoring spaces on both 1^st and 2^nd floors.
• Relocation and reconfiguration of library circulation service points on 1^st and 2^nd floor.
• Addition of a new research commons space on 2^nd floor.
• Unification of many library personnel and services into a new collocated Public Services office on the 2^nd floor and Technical Services office on the 1^st floor.
• Relocation and expansion of existing library instructional spaces to 2^nd floor coupled with the addition of new ASC active learning spaces on the 1^st floor.
• Seventeen new group study and conference spaces/rooms across the north and east sides of the 1^st and 2^nd floors.
• Expanded seating and study options on the 1^st floor (including exterior patio furniture on the north and east sides.)
• New closed compact shelving location on 1^st floor allowing for consolidation of closed stacks, archival and lesser used materials into a smaller footprint (with better climate control) freeing space on 1^st and 2^nd floors for other purposes.