IRVINE : College Is Clearing Way for Two-Story Library

The ground is being cleared at Irvine Valley College this week for construction of a $4.7-million library at the rapidly growing campus, where standing-room-only is often the rule inside the existing library.

“It’s a terrible situation for our students. All the seats are usually taken,” said Dave Everett, dean of information services at the college. “Our library is in a facility that was not designed to be used as a library. This new building will be our first, real library.”

A groundbreaking ceremony for the two-story library, planned on 1 1/2 acres near the Student Services Center, is set for Oct. 31. College officials say they expect to open the library by fall, 1997. But completion of the building will only be part of a three-phase project to expand college information technology and services, according to Everett.

“We are about to become a presence on the World Wide Web,” Everett said. “We have faculty members who want to put their course materials on the Web. But we can’t require students to do anything unless we provide them with the tools to do it here.”

With the Irvine City Council considering pulling out of the county library system, Everett said the college, city and Irvine Unified School District may form a three-way partnership to fund and expand library services throughout the community.

But the most immediate need is for more space and materials for the 10,000 students who attend Irvine Valley College, where enrollments have climbed 42% during the last decade.

The existing library has about 25,000 books in a 11,000-square-foot building that also houses faculty offices and student activity rooms. College officials say the planned 25,000-square-foot library will accommodate 85,000 books and include video and multimedia production studios.