Bishop’s House on East Campus (located behind Bassett Residence Hall), will serve as a temporary base of library services while Lilly Library is being renovated. The location opened to library users on August 1.
This semester, the long-awaited renovation and expansion of Lilly Library officially got into full swing.
All the books have been carefully packed up and moved to temporary storage, clearing the way for construction workers to move in. Meanwhile, library staff offices and workspaces have been relocated to Lilly’s temporary renovation quarters at Bishop’s House, which will serve as a base of library services on East Campus for the next two years. Although the historic home’s century-old floors can’t support aisles of heavy books, students and faculty can still visit Bishop’s House to pick up and return library materials, access course reserves, meet with librarians, and get help with any questions.
While the renovation is still in the early, messy phases, we thought we would share some scenes from our progress so far—before the real makeover begins in earnest.
Carts of books from Lilly’s stacks, shrink-wrapped, carefully labeled, and ready to be loaded out over the summer.Empty shelves that once held Lilly’s extensive collection of DVDs and films, most of which have been relocated to Perkins Library during the renovation. During the renovation, workers will remove the building’s entire stack core, from top floor to basement.Lilly’s staff take a break for one last group “shelfie” before moving out.Library users can still find scanners, copiers, printers, and other equipment they need at Bishop’s House.The Carpenter Reading Room, empty of study tables, chairs, and almost everything else. The original wood shelves around the room will be replaced with new ones, along with updated finishes and furnishings throughout.All of the library’s windows have been removed for restoration, including these in the Thomas Reading Room.The compact shelving on the library’s basement floor being is being disassembled, to be replaced later with more modern compact shelves.Kelley Lawton, Head of East Campus Libraries (center), discusses the progress with the construction team. Although Lilly is currently more of a destruction zone than a construction zone, the project is proceeding roughly on schedule.Six of the tennis courts behind Lilly Library will be removed during construction to accommodate the building’s expansion. Once complete, Lilly will be nearly 75 percent larger than it is now, with significantly more user seating to accommodate Duke’s first-year student population.
