22 High-Profile Focus: Schools and Institutions
September 2026
Less Books, More Belonging: Rethinking the Academic Library
By Jenna McClure
For generations, the campus library was defined by what it held: rows of stacks, quiet carrels, and the sheer volume of bound knowledge. But as collections are digitized and research moves online, institutions are confronting a question with spatial consequences: If the library holds fewer books, what does it become?
The simple answer is a study space. The more compelling possibility is that the library can become a key destination
Library cafe
on campus: a place where students choose to gather and often the first place prospective students encounter.
At the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, the renovation of the Pope Pius XII Library presented an opportunity to rethink the role of the library on campus. Like many libraries of its era, the building was organized around its stacks, a configuration that no longer reflects how students learn and gather today. Students work collaboratively with technology, moving between focused study, informal interaction, and group work. At the same time, the University had identified
Building Campuses that Build Futures
University of Saint Joseph Library Welcome Center
a broader campus goal: creating a new front door and a more welcoming point of arrival. The library offered an opportunity to address both needs – to support contemporary patterns of learning and gathering while establishing a more visible and connected presence on campus. It could serve as both an academic resource and a gateway, supporting students while welcoming visitors and establishing a clear sense of arrival.
The renovation reimagines 20,000 square feet as a dynamic academic and social destination. Where stacks once dominated, the new Learning Commons offer a range of environments, from collaborative zones for group work to private study rooms designed for focused individual study. A new admissions suite, café, Welcome Center, and prominent public entrance transform the building into a true campus gateway – the front door the University was missing.
When books no longer determine the organization of a library, we are not simply left with empty square footage to fill. We are given an opportunity to ask what a campus community needs from its shared spaces. The answer is flexibility, daylight, accessibility, and connection: environments that support the ways
people work while creating opportunities for the informal encounters that make an institution feel like a community.
Realizing the vision begins with listening. The design process began not with a floor plan, but with visioning workshops that brought students, faculty, staff, and University leadership together.
Insights from these discussions informed a data-driven programming process, translating stakeholder input into a space program that evolved from conceptual diagrams to test-fit plans and, ultimately, detailed drawings. The result was a design shaped by consensus rather than assumption.
The“ library of the future” is not a template. It is specific to each institution’ s identity, culture, and aspirations. For one campus, it may lean toward research and innovation; for another, toward gathering and belonging. The common thread is a shift from spaces organized around collections to spaces organized around people. These projects are about creating places that support learning, connection, and belonging.
Jenna McClure, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, serves as principal-in-charge in Amenta Emma Architect’ s Academic Studio.
Architect: SMRT Architects & Engineers, Portland, ME
Construction Manager • Design-Builder • General Contractor
76 Old Turnpike Road • Concord, NH 03301 •( 603) 224-3233 • www. northbranch. net
Library learning commons www. high-profile. com