Grand Valley State University is preparing for Zumberge Library’s transition to the new Mary Idema Pew Library and Learning Commons, scheduled for completion this spring.

Brian Merry, head of operations and user services for University Libraries, said the library has closed access to the downtown storage collection. Students requesting a title from storage will receive a copy borrowed from a sister institution through the interlibrary loan service.

“The interlibrary loan service offers electronic items such as journal articles from another library within 24 hours,” Merry said. “For tangible items, it usually takes about four to five days.”

Throughout the winter semester, a majority of the books in Zumberge will still be easy to access and a small amount will be moved to the fourth floor in preparation for the move to the new library, Merry said. Some of the fourth floor items will be removed completely later in the semester, and students can receive a title that isn’t accessible by getting it through the interlibrary loan service.

Lynell De Wind, director of planning and organizational resources, leads the library team in developing the plans and helps to make sure that it has the resources to get this “once in a lifetime” task complete in preparation for moving to the new library.

“(Currently), we are pre-staging some materials on the fourth floor to prepare them for the move into the new library,” De Wind said. “We are moving reference items from the first floor to second and third floors, to more reflect where those volumes will be housed in the new library.”

There are some challenges associated with packaging up the materials before the move into the new library, De Wind said.

“This is a new process for many of us and trying to keep all the details aligned for a smooth and effective move is challenging,” De Wind said. “We are working on ways to help students and staff understand where we are in the process as well as provide them access to the needed information.
Our Document Delivery department is ready to help us obtain needed items when access to our copy is limited.”

De Wind added that there are over 320,000 items in the university collection all moving into the new library.

Merry said Zumberge Library will officially be closed on April 27, and that a satellite library in the Thornapple Room of the Kirkhof Center will open on April 26.

“The satellite library will feature items such as course reserves for the spring, a hold shelf where items can be picked up, circulation collection requests, as well as library staff,” Merry said.

The hours of the satellite library will be Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6.p.m. and will have limited hours on Saturday and Sunday.

There are many projects underway in preparation for the new library, such as an examination of the service model and how it will operate in the new environment of the Mary Idema Pew Library, Merry said.

“The new physical environment will bring about different ways to deliver a variety of services,” Merry said. “We want to remove barriers from students by making materials faster to access and less of a headache.”

For more information on the progression of the library, call the University Libraries Dean’s Office at 616-331-2621 or call the Zumberge Library directly at 616-331-3500.
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