The Collegian

Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Hillsdale College

The personal libraries of William F. Buckley and Russell Kirk currently sit in storage rooms in the attic of Lane and the basement of Kendall Halls. Since Hillsdale College received them as donations in the early-mid-1990s, Mossey Library has lacked the space to house them.

But those collections should see the light of day within five years, when Mossey Library receives its promised 10,880-square-foot expansion as part of the $400 million Founder's Campaign, launched in January 2001.

Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said the storage areas are not ideal for the books, but until the funds come in, there's nothing he can do.

"The cost for Grewcock was too high," he said. "It would've been a wonderful asset for the college, but we won't pursue the [library] project until we have the funds for it in hand."

The addition is estimated to cost $2.6 million and will include archive display and storage space, a reading room, a control point and additional space for special collections to be housed in high-density shelves, Péwé said.

The original plan for the archive center was to create it underground, where the Kresge Center for Traditional Studies previously stood, and was scheduled for construction alongside the Grewcock Student Union and Strosacker project.

After some schematic planning, however, administrators dropped the plans for the library expansion and for a renovation of the north façade of Central Hall, Péwé said.

The current plan, designed by TMP Architecture, would extend Mossey Library past the Heritage Room towards Delp Hall, creating a 3,235-square-foot storage facility with a future option of expanding it 4,730 more square feet.

Mossey Library Director Dan Knoch said the current library has enough room for the basic collections such as Ludwig Von Mises' library, but the library needs more space to house other important documents for a while.

"We've always had the need for such archives," Knoch said. "Originally we wanted to renovate the old Carr Library to fit such a need, but obviously with the construction of Grewcock that was out of the question. We'd like to see the addition completed within the next five years."

Unless donors take a special interest in the project, bumping it up in priority, funds from the Founder's Campaign, Knoch said.

Harold Siegel, assistant professor of history and chair of the faculty library committee, said the addition to the library would help adjust the campus' focus.

"The signature building on a liberal arts campus should be the library," he said.

Other projects on the horizon include a new intramural sports building, a chapel and performing arts building, and renovations to several existing residence halls including the Knorr Student Center and the Roche Sports Complex.

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