With the goal of improving and updating its spaces, Queen’s Library is renovating Joseph S. Stauffer Library’s main floor. This project - the first major renovation to Stauffer Library since it opened in 1994 - will enhance accessibility and create a more welcoming and modern space for patrons. 

Renovating one of Queen’s University’s most beloved and most used spaces requires extensive planning and deliberation, and after considering numerous options, the decision was made that an eight to 10-week summer closure will minimize impact during the academic year. 

Timelines

Current plans are as follows:

• Construction is scheduled to begin in May 2024 and will proceed for approximately eight months. The library will remain open for most of this time, with access to specific areas restricted
• Stauffer Library will be closed to the public for eight to 10 weeks, from June 8 to late August. During the closure, the noisiest and most disruptive work (including core drilling and demolition) will be completed. Closing the library will help promote safety and allow work to proceed more quickly, thereby helping ensure that key areas, such as the Adaptive Technology Centre, will be open as early as possible in the fall term, and leading up to a full reopening of the main floor in early 2025

Key results 

• Significant expansion and improvements to the Adaptive Technology Centre
• A new 50-seat library classroom 
• Gender neutral bathrooms
• Innovative biophilic and inclusive design
• Decreased physical collections footprint and increased, and better zoned, spaces for quiet study and active collaboration
• New service desk, open reserves, and printing/scanning services
• Workspaces that meet the needs of 21st century library employees
• A featured space for librarians to collaborate with students and researchers
• Improved security systems

Where to find services and resources during the renovation

The Adaptive Technology Centre (ATC) will be relocated to the ground floor of Douglas Library for the summer months before returning to their revitalized space. The ATC lab will be in Room 405 and the ATC bookable study room in Room 404.

Student Academic Success Services (SASS) will be moving to Gordon Hall 3rd floor as of May 1.

Humanities, Social Sciences, Digital Initiatives, and Open Scholarship librarians remain available for consultations, bookable online, or via email.

As Stauffer Library stacks will not be accessible, materials will be available to all current Queen’s students, faculty, and staff via using the Request feature in the Omni search tool, with an alternate pickup location. Physical course reserves will be temporarily offered from another library location. More details will be provided as the project moves forward.

The loggia and rotunda will remain open for student use, and the Union Gallery and the Queen’s Research Data Centre, both located in Stauffer Library, will maintain their regular opening hours throughout the renovation.

Alternative locations

Those looking for library spaces, particularly during the summer closure of Stauffer Library, can check out these other library locations:

• Education Library
• Douglas Library – the 1966 Reading room on the third floor is an excellent place to study 
  - The reading room of the W.D. Jordan Special Collections will be reserved for graduate student use while the graduate student reading room in Stauffer is temporarily closed
• Bracken Health Sciences Library
• Library Information Network at Queen’s (LINQ) located on the main floor of Watson Hall

Going forward

This is an exciting project as Queen’s Library continues to evolve alongside the needs and expectations of its users and the community. Updates will be provided as progress continues.