When the Clapp Library renovation was originally planned in 2022, it was conceived as a critical repairs project funded by a special endowment draw following the post-COVID market boom. The goal was straightforward: address aging infrastructure by upgrading the heating, plumbing, lighting, electrical systems, and accessibility. But as the project unfolded, it became clear that Clapp’s future could be even brighter than initially envisioned.
Challenges became opportunities. One of the biggest arose from the heating system upgrade. A move to a more energy-efficient low-temperature hot water heating system required larger air handler units. When designers realized these units wouldn’t fit in the basement as intended, they had to reverse the placement, moving 80% of the equipment to the roof. This shift significantly increased costs and necessitated additional funding and an extended timeline.
Realizing that the library would be offline for an additional semester, the project team sought ways to use that time to enhance the student experience and make visible improvements. They added upgrades, including a café on the first floor, an improved maker space, and enhancements to Archives and Special Collections.
Then Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56, trustee emerita, and her husband, Bill, provided a generous gift that gave the College an opportunity to go even further. This support enabled the relocation of the Pforzheimer Learning and Teaching Center and the Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources from the third floor to the more visible and accessible main floor, alongside the Brackett Reading Room. This move not only fosters connections between academic support services but also destigmatizes the use of these resources. The gift also allowed for the construction of a “ceremonial stair” from the main floor to the café on the first floor.
“There will be a lot of activity, movement, sunlight, and energy. I think it’s going to be a thriving and hopefully really happy place in the library,” says Michelle Maheu, assistant vice president of facilities management and planning. “The really great story behind all of this is we very intentionally said at first, ‘We will not be making a library of the future. We don’t have the time, we don’t have the money.’ But now we are transforming this library to be a library of the future. And it happened pretty serendipitously.”
Poorvu, a former French faculty member at Tufts, is especially excited about the renovations to Special Collections that her gift supports. When she was a Wellesley student, she wasn’t aware of the department. But as an alum, through Friends of the Library, “My world opened up, and I was enthralled by its wonders of unique material of original manuscripts, early printed books, etc., embodying the history of knowledge. It was an epiphany.”
The renovated Clapp Library is scheduled to be fully operational for the fall 2025 semester.
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