The timeline for the Wilson Library Improvement Project, which was originally scheduled to begin in August and force temporary closure of the library, has now been extended, UNC Facilities Services announced on Friday.
Facilities services staff determined that cost estimates for the project surpassed the allocated budget of $31 million, pushing the improvement plan and library renovations back. The impending physical closure would have impacted current graduate students and the completion of their academic research.
Due to the extension, the library, its special collections and program space will remain open to both researchers and the public for the foreseeable future.
James Bryan, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography and Environment, originally had to speed up his research timeline once he was notified that the in-person library materials he wanted to access would be unavailable starting in July.
“I was very pleased to hear the extension,” Bryan said. “I think it’s a great relief to myself and, I’m sure, plenty of other people who value Wilson Library and its archival collections.”
Bryan said he will now have time to look into collection materials in-depth for his research on labor markets and landscape history in the South.
“When I first received news of Wilson closing last fall — I think at that point, that’s when my mind was telling me I really had to sprint through everything I wanted to do,” Bryan said. “This absolutely eases some stress for me, and I don’t have the same anxieties over what I have to get done in a certain amount of time anymore.”
The delay will allow the facilities planning staff to work more strategically and comprehensively, UNC Media Relations said in an email statement.
The library and facilities planning staff will now develop a Libraries Space Master Plan that includes reviewing physical spaces, off-site storage of materials and budgeting to satisfy the Campus Master Plan — the framework to advance initiatives that impact the UNC community.
