NORTHRIDGE : Interim On-Campus Library Has Opened

Students at Cal State Northridge now have a place on campus to study after Monday’s opening of the North Library Annex on the north campus just south of Devonshire Street.

The 15,000-square-foot facility can hold 200 students and has 40 computers.

The facility is one of three interim facilities the university plans to open in the absence of the heavily damaged 220,000-square-foot Oviatt Library, closed since the Jan. 17 earthquake.

The annex was converted from an agricultural exhibition hall to a library in eight weeks. Since mid-February, CSUN has been operating hourly shuttle buses taking students to UCLA libraries.

Hours at the interim library are 7:45 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 7:40 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays. During final exams, which run May 26 to June 2, the library will stay open until midnight.

Another facility that will hold about 250 students will open within the next few weeks.

Construction on a larger facility holding one-fourth of Oviatt’s 1.1 million books will begin this summer, and is expected to be completed early in the fall semester, CSUN officials said.

Oviatt is not expected to reopen for another year or two, officials said.