The fourth floor of Snell Library, which has been closed since Jan. 3, will reopen to students Monday, and construction will move to the third floor, the library’s dean announced in an email Friday.
Snell has been undergoing renovations since spring 2023 as part of a two-year makeover of Northeastern’s only undergraduate campus library. In a campus-wide email last spring, Cohen said new changes to the top floor include individual and group study spaces, reservable study rooms, single-person pods for phone and video calls, a glass-enclosed quiet study room and improved acoustic dampening.
“We can’t wait to welcome you to the new fourth floor, and thank you for your patience as we continue to renew Snell Library,” wrote Dan Cohen, the dean of the library. The third floor of the library will be closed until summer 2024, Cohen wrote.
? The newly renovated 4th floor of Snell Library will open on Monday! ?
Here’s a sneak peek of some of the new study areas:
The floor features a variety of furniture and seating options for every type of studier. pic.twitter.com/hXdmTiAl9j
— Northeastern University Library (@NortheasternLib) November 10, 2023
The project, which Cohen described as a “once in a generation, top-to-bottom modernization of the library” in an interview with The News last fall, will increase the amount of library study space, return thousands of books to the on-site archives and create additional opportunities for collaboration.
The renovations “will cause some pain and disruption in the coming years, but we will end up with a dramatically enhanced library with a lot more study space,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Madigan at a faculty senate meeting last year.
During the renovations, the library has suspended noise restrictions, clarifying in a new policy that there is “no expectation of general quiet on any floor.” Some students complained the policy has disrupted the traditionally quiet study environment the upper floors of the library previously provided.
“It is unfair because I feel that everybody should have a space to work and have peace and quiet at the same time,” Andrea Gonzalez, a second-year health science major, told The News last month. “I know a lot of people, including myself, find it hard to be in their own room and study because they get easily distracted, and places like Snell are convenient.”
Students can track constructions and closure updates on the Snell Library Renovation website. The website directs students looking for additional study areas outside of the first, second and fourth floors to visit the Northeastern University Spaces page.
