Revitalized Bata Library celebrated
Open concept after $18M transformation of Trent’s library
Trent University students are happy to have their library back after an 18-month closure.
The Bata Library reopened two weeks ago after an $18-million transformation.
A celebratory event was held at Bata Friday afternoon, while students quietly worked away during the festivities.
Fourth-year students Andrew Walsh and Chantel Hancock were set up at a tiny table along the window.
“It’s nice to have it back,” said Hancock, who’s taking environmental studies.
The transformed library includes updated student areas and study spaces, three research centres, print and digital books, a data and visualization lab, an entrepreneurship and social innovation centre, and a teaching design studio.
Although Hancock and Walsh said they don’t feel the tables on the main floor are big enough, Hancock said she was impressed with the meeting rooms.
“The meeting rooms upstairs are helpful because you can reserve them so it’s a quiet place to study with people,” she said.
During the closure, books were stored at a warehouse in the west end. Students would have to request a book, which would then arrive the next day.
And study space was limited, Hancock and Walsh said.
“I found it hard,” Walsh said. “You always were working scattered all over the place.”
The temporary closure was “very inconvenient,” Hancock
said.
“It was very hard to find places to study and gather as a group,” she said.
Second-year student Adam Milburn said he’d gone without a library since arriving at Trent.
“I’m happy to have the space because campus is nice but there isn’t anywhere to work, really,” said Milburn, who studies history and politics.
In the interim, Milburn studied at the Student Centre, but said it wasn’t ideal.
The Peterborough resident said he’s happy to have a quiet place to study and that library books are within reach.
Meanwhile, David and Joan Moore were a part of the reopening celebrations and were honoured for their $1.2 million donation that got the transformation rolling.
The couple first donated $1 million toward the project and then committed another $250,000 in matching dollars to inspire others to give.
The Moore’s plan encouraged alumnus Paul Odette to donate $100,000.
Odette graduated from Trent in 1976, but that’s not his only connection to the university.
His father’s construction company, Eastern Construction, built Trent’s original Bata Library in 1967.
Workers had to dam the Otonabee River so they could build the foundation, Odette said.
“It was really something at the time — nobody had seen anything like it,” said Odette, who attended the grand reopening.
The alumnus said he remembers walking into the library and not being able to see out the windows because of the stacks of books.
With the new open concept, that’s no longer an issue.
“It’s very different. It really has been totally revitalized,” Odette said.
Although the library is back in business, it’s not quite done yet.
Leo Groarke, Trent’s president, said there’s still some finishing touches to do, but they wanted to go ahead and open the doors for the sake of students. It was slated to open in August.
Despite a few details to attend to, Groarke said it feels wonderful to have Bata back.
“This is both an old Bata and a new Bata at the same time. It’s got all the strengths of the old Bata — it’s an iconic building … but it’s also got the strengths of a contemporary library, full of digital equipment and new ways of thinking,” Groarke said.