Now You See It, Now You Don’t:
Renovating Langdell Hall & Other Tales1
by
Harry S. (Terry) Martin III
Librarian & Professor of Law
Harvard Law School
———————
Presented to the Harvard Law School Alumni
25 April 1996
———————
In 1991, I was invited to Canberra to deliver a paper at a library
convention.2 While there, I was also asked to deliver an after-dinner speech in
the Great Hall of the High Court of Australia. As I concluded my after-dinner
remarks, an Australian librarian advanced on the podium holding a long piece of
hollow, decorated wood.
“I understand you play the didjeridu,” she said.
“Why, yes,” I replied. “I do. It’s the oldest form of trumpet in the world and
I am a trumpeter. I learned to play the didjeridu two years ago on my first visit to
Australia.”3
“Will you play for us now?” she asked.
“Of course,” I replied and I did.
The spectacle of an American librarian and a Harvard professor playing
this native Aboriginal wind instrument in the Great Hall of the High Court of
Australia was so striking, that to this day no one remembers my brilliant paper on
digital libraries or my inspiring talk on international library cooperation. Still and
all, I had a wonderful time “Down Under” and was very grateful to Jacqui Elliott,
the Librarian of the High Court of Australia, for arranging the invitation.
Therefore, when 3,000 law librarians descended on Boston in July of 1993
for their annual convention, I was delighted when Jacqui called me to ask if she
1
An earlier version of this paper was first delivered at the Spring 1995 meeting of the Harvard Law
School Association, April 8, 1995, and subsequently published as “Can You Really Store a Library in
Cyberspace?” in the Australian Law Librarian, Vol. 3, No. 2/3, April/June 1995.
2
“Wizards of Oz: Architects of the Virtual Library.” In Achieving Excellence - Proceedings of the 4th
Asian Pacific Special and Law Librarians’ Conference with the 9 th Biennial Health Librarians’
Conference, Supplement One. Canberra: September 1991.
3
For those interested, Dreamtime: The W3 Didjeridu Server at http://www.nd.edu/~sborman/didjeridu/
will provide a wealth of information.
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could visit Harvard Law School, the “temple of the law.” Naturally, I said yes and
arranged to conduct the tour myself, though I was somewhat nervous. Not only
had Jacqui been very gracious to me on my previous concert tour of her country,
but she works in a stunning modern building with the most beautiful view from
her office of any law librarian in the world.
I met Jacqui outside Langdell one hot July morning. We entered Langdell
past the statue of Joseph Story carved by his son, William Wetmore Story. I took
my usual opportunity to roll up a copy of the Harvard Gazette and stick it in
Joseph’s hand. The main elevator was cranky that morning so we walked up two
flights to the Reading Room.
On the way up, I asked her if she would autograph our copy of her Pacific
Law Bibliography.4 She seemed pleased we even had it, but I explained that our
Australian collection was quite extensive.
When we entered the Reading Room, Jacqui immediately noticed that
most of the lights were turned off. I explained that it had been exceptionally hot
during the past two weeks and that the lights in our false ceiling, installed in 1960
by a famous Broadway lighting designer, not only consumed 70% of the
electrical energy in the building but produced a lot of heat to boot. To keep the
temperature down, we turned the main lights off when the temperature hit 80º F.
Actually, the temperature had already hit 88º and it was not yet noon. I could see
only two readers, both in shorts, strategically placed in front of the large fans
vainly attempting to circulate the humid air.
Jacqui asked what library staff were doing at one end of the room where
several books stood splayed open on the tables. I explained that a heavy rain the
day before had caused the Cambridge storm sewers to back up and one of our
basement stacks areas had flooded. Books on the lowest shelves got wet.
Fortunately, only a few were in the Harkness freezer waiting to be shipped to our
freeze-dry contractor in Philadelphia. Most of the books just needed a good
airing.
Before Jacqui could ask any more questions, I ushered her into the
antique elevator that graces the Reading Room. Fortunately, we were friends,
because the elevator is rather cozy for two people and positively intimate for
three. When Langdell was designed, only library staff or faculty with offices in the
stacks were expected to need access to the building’s interior. That also explains
why the stairs that lead from the Reading Room to the stacks are so narrow: only
the stack boys used them.
When we reached the basement, I carefully closed the interior gate to the
elevator and made sure the door was shut all the way. Otherwise, no one could
call the elevator back up to the Reading Room. We proceeded north through the
basement stacks, through the periodical collection, through the British collection,
flicking on lights as we went. I began to wonder if I shouldn’t have stayed in the
4
Elliott, Jacqueline D. Pacific Law Bibliography (2nd ed.) Taroona, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia:
Pacific Law Press, 1990.
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Reading Room long enough to look up the call number of Jacqui’s bibliography.
At the end of the floor, we descended a small, iron staircase to the Australian,
Canadian, and New Zealand stacks.
“Australia really is down under, isn’t it!” I heard Jacqui mutter.
The carrels in the north sub-basement were, as I expected, utterly
deserted. The lack of natural light and low traffic keep the area somewhat
gloomy even in a hot, mid-summer day. In the bleak midwinter, some students
refuse even to visit the area alone. I don’t blame them. The only students I’d ever
met enthusiastic about being assigned a carrel here were a former monk, used
to isolation, and a former member of the New Zealand All-Blacks, the national
rugby team, who was afraid of nothing.
We toured the Australian collection, with many gratifying exclamations
from Ms. Elliott:

“Now that’s very rare.”

“Did you know that’s out-of-print?”

“Even I don’t subscribe to that!” [I made a note of that item.]
Unfortunately, we did not spot her own work. So we retraced our steps up
the small, iron staircase, back through the British collection and periodical
stacks, flicking lights on as we went. Our Financial Dean some years ago
insisted we put ten-minute timers on our stack lights. We spend thousands on
the Reading Room lights but save pennies in the stacks.
When we reached the elevator, it refused to come when called. So we
walked up the three stack levels back to the Reading Room. Fortunately, we
encountered no one on the way and avoided the staircase sarabande. At the top,
I discovered that, indeed, someone had not closed the door to the elevator
tightly.
Looking in HOLLIS, we discovered her work was shelved in the ILS
reference collection in Lewis Hall. Thus, we avoided a repeat trip to the Langdell
basement.
I did manage to get Jacqui’s autograph. I can only hope that her next trip
to Harvard will introduce her to a library truly fitting for “the temple of the law.”
What Renovation Brings
For some years, the Law School has been planning a major renovation of
Langdell Hall. The newest portions of Langdell are 68 years old; the oldest are
ninety. Its mechanical and electrical systems have long exceeded their expected
lifetimes.
When I arrived as the Law School Librarian in 1981, my only condition
was that Langdell receive a new roof, so library staff would not have to set out
buckets in the Reading Room when it rained. Dean Vorenberg agreed and a new
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copper roof was installed. I then became more familiar with the building, my list
of desired improvements grew, and I began a long process of advocating
improvements in the library’s physical facilities.
The current project to renovate Langdell Hall is the culmination of several
years of work by different Law School committees with three different
architectural firms. The major effort was put in by a committee chaired by
Professor Andrew Kaufman that presented several alternatives to the Faculty in
1991. The major recommendations of the Kaufman Committee were accepted by
the Faculty and the current project will implement the basic program that the
Kaufman Committee put aside in the spring of 1992 pending the completion of
the Law School’s capital campaign and the construction of Hauser Hall.
In February of 1995, Dean Robert C. Clark appointed a small working
group to implement the general plan postponed three years earlier. That group
consists of





Sandra Coleman, Administrative Dean,
Terry Martin, Librarian & Professor of Law, chair,
Stuart Rees, HLS ‘97,
Joseph Singer, Professor of Law, and
Paul Upson, Assistant Dean for Finance & Administration.
Curt Heuring and Jim Donovan from the University Planning Office serve
as project managers. The Turner Construction Company was re-hired to serve
as a construction consultant. Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson & Abbott, the same
firm that planned the original building, were re-engaged as project architects.
Last June we presented to the Dean a proposal for a two-year, $33 million
project that would close most of Langdell Hall - the north and south wings and
the top of the west wing5 - from June 7, 1996, until August 27, 1997. To maintain
library services for the School during this period, the second and third floors of
the east wing of Pound Hall will become a temporary library for the 1996-97
academic year.
There are two major purposes in renovating Langdell. One is to replace
mechanical and electrical systems that in many cases date to the construction of
the original wing in 1908. Another is to replace areas designed for a specific
purpose, like stacks or classrooms, with a more flexible construction that will
increase the School’s options for using the building in the future. The immediate
result is to provide a more modern, comfortable, and flexible Library facility.
In particular, the Library will provide a more comfortable environment for
people and for books, quicker orientation and easier movement through the
building, integrated stack and study areas, greater seating variety with every seat
5
Langdell West was renamed Areeda Hall this year in honor of Phillip E. Areeda, Langdell Professor of
Law and benefactor of the School, upon his untimely death.
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near a power outlet and a network connection, wheel chair access everywhere,
and gender equity in the rest rooms.
Quality Not Quantity. In general, the result of renovation will be to
improve greatly the quality of library spaces and the amount of space devoted to
information technology. The number of reader seats stays at 700 but the space
per reader increases. Staff space is slightly more compact than at present but
more efficient and comfortable. Space for computers, microforms, and multimedia increases. The book capacity stays at its present 500,000 volumes in
Langdell open stacks but the environment becomes stable and controlled.
In fact, although nearly every other major law library has engaged in a
significant construction project at some point in the last twenty years, this is the
first project not to be driven by a need to house more books. 6
Library Organization & Services. One by-product of a more flexible
building is an opportunity to reorganize library services. For instance, technical
services staff now scattered over three floors will be consolidated in the
renovated first level, on the tunnel system that connects most Law School
buildings.
One major change will move the main Circulation Desk from its present
location in the fourth floor Reading Room to a new home on the second floor at
the main entrance to the building. A consolidated reserve collection and the
library’s interlibrary loan and document delivery units will also be here. A new
lounge appears south of the main entrance where readers will find current
newspapers, magazines, and a display of new books, plus soft seating, e-mail
terminals, and chess sets. A coffee service is being contemplated. To the north
of the main lobby, the current legal periodical collection will be shelved, located
by the main entrance, the central stair and elevator bank, and a photocopy room.
Further north, in what is now a classroom, will be a new 24-seat computer
classroom and the library’s microform and audio-visual collections.
Replacing the two stack-supported floor levels of the central stacks with a
single new floor aligned with the rest of the building and inter-flooring the North
Middle classroom will create a new third floor holding stacks and carrels.
A state-of-the-art reference and information center will be constructed on
the fourth floor of Areeda Hall, adjacent to the Langdell Reading Room and
connected to the International Legal Studies Library by a new bridge between
Lewis and Areeda Hall. Reference offices will be located on the balcony above
the service desks.
As a result, the Langdell Reading Room becomes a quieter place to read
and study. The stacks will be removed from the windows, bringing more natural
light into the room. Lounge chairs and carrels by the windows prove very
popular.
6
Faculty approval of Langdell renovation was conditioned on continuing the Library’s “zero growth”
collection policy. Since construction of the Harvard Depository, at least one older volume has been sent
to Southborough for every new book added to the collection.
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Benefits of Renovation
Building
 Central heating, ventilation, and
air-conditioning and improved
insulation and window treatments
 New lighting, finishes, and furniture


New electrical systems and
telecommunications wiring
Interflooring of core stacks and
North Middle classroom
Library
 Year-round comfort for readers
and retardation of book
disintegration
 Improved study atmosphere and
environment
 Every seat near a power outlet
and a network connection
 Integrated stack and study
areas
 Greater seating variety
Fewer long tables
Many more carrels
Ten private studies
Two computer labs
Group study and conference
rooms
Many more lounge seats

Improved access
Building entrance is library entrance
Four new elevators
New stair towers
Wheel chair ramps on west link
entrances and to classrooms
Wheel chair lift at east entrance

Improved movement throughout
Library
Consistent floor levels
Two public elevators
Central interior stair
All stack and reader areas
accessible to wheelchairs and
book trucks
With greater consolidation of circulation and reference services in
Langdell, the ILS Reading Room will also become quieter. Circulation and
reference service points in the International Legal Studies Library will be staffed
only as traffic requires. The possibility of turning the ILS Reading Room into a
24-hour study room is being considered.
New Ideas, New Tools. Changes in educational philosophy and
information technology since the turn of the century also require modernization of
library facilities. When Langdell was planned,7 the student body was somewhat
7
Austin Hall, occupied in 1883, lasted barely twenty years before library growth forced the Faculty to
consider further construction. Work on Langdell Hall commenced in 1905 but the School only had
funds enough to complete the south half. See The Centennial History of the Harvard Law School, 18171917, Cambridge, Harvard Law School Association, 1918, pp. 56-7. The north and west wings were
finally added in 1928. Langdell West was renamed Areeda Hall this year in honor of Phillip E. Areeda,
Langdell Professor of Law.
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smaller than today. The prescribed curriculum essentially consisted of large
classes in American law. There was one law journal, no clinical program, and a
small graduate program. The amount of independent study or research was
limited. The Reading Room was largely a study hall and access to the stacks
was limited to library pages and to junior faculty members who, in lieu of offices,
were assigned carrels in the stacks.
Today’s diverse curriculum provides many opportunities for individual
research as well as growing opportunities for collaborative work by groups of
students. The Library’s role as a center for teaching new technologies and
techniques of research has grown. New computer labs, expanded facilities for
audio-visual, interactive-video, digital storage, and microforms, information
kiosks on all floors, and jacks to the Internet everywhere, will all help the Library
stay abreast of new developments.
How Do We Do It?
Getting from here to there, however, will be very tricky indeed. Rather than
renovating the building in sections, which would have been expensive both
financially and psychologically, we made a decision to evacuate the entire
building for one academic year.8 During the 1996/97 academic year, Langdell
will be closed. A temporary reading room will be located in the Ropes-Gray
Room. For that year, the alumni dinners, computer fair, negotiation workshops,
and drama society productions that usually take place in Pound Hall must be
relocated. The temporary reading room will contain a core reference collection of
approximately 45,000 volumes, about the size of a good law firm library, plus as
much technology as we can cram in. The remaining 450,000 volumes currently
shelved in Langdell open stacks will be placed in temporary storage.
That process is well underway. In fact, Bob Buckwalter, Associate Librarian
for Collection Services, led a small task group that started early in 1995 planning
what books would go where, which volumes would be available and which not,
and when various portions of the collection would disappear from the shelves.
The process of moving books proceeded quietly for over a year, but, by February
1996, students and faculty began noticing gaps on the shelves.
Our manuscripts collections and other selected books have been bar-coded
and sent to the Depository, where they can be recalled if wanted. Duplicate sets
like the official state reports and lesser used sets like Canadian provincial reports
and statutes will not be processed for retrieval by the time we evacuate Langdell.
We expect nearly half a million books will be stored in Southborough by the end
of this May, most cataloged in HOLLIS and available for retrieval. But some
8
This approach was first proposed by the Kaufman Committee and endorsed by the current planning team
last year. Piecemeal renovation would have turned Langdell into a construction site for three or four
years, would have been more costly, and would have posed interesting scheduling problems for the
Reading Room and the main mechanical basement.
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400,000 books will end up sealed in the Langdell rare book stacks 9 or at the
Depository marked Do Not Open Until Fall of 1997.
We have agreements with certain international research libraries, such as
the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto, the Bodleian Law
Library at Oxford University, and the Library of the High Court of Australia, for
access to their collections of Canadian and British and Australian law. In return,
we hope to provide them with access to the comprehensive collection of legal
compact disks we are starting to build. In fact, I am very excited about the postrenovation possibilities for maintaining closer relationships with these institutions.
Last November, a big hole was dug in Holmes Field so a new power substation can be built. This will permit continued delivery of electricity to adjacent
buildings when the rest of the building is closed. This preliminary project was not
without some excitement. The large crane that appeared at the onset of this
work crushed the chilled water lines supplying air conditioning to Hauser and
Pound Halls. Fortunately, the winter of 1995-96 was long and hard, because
these lines were not restored until April. Because Langdell sits astride an
underground stream, at times 128,000 gallons of water a day were pumped out
of this hole. The diversion of water was effectively managed until a late spring
snow overloaded the Langdell roof drains and brought water into the Treasure
Room stacks. Fortunately, by that time all the rare books and manuscripts had
been removed.
In March of 1996, our Special Collections Department - the rare books,
manuscripts, and art collections displayed in the Casperson Treasure Room and
used by researchers in the Root Room - closed for the duration of the project.
The packing of books reached fever pitch. During spring break, oil paintings,
statues, antique furniture, and other valuable objects were moved to storage.
Special collections staff were reassigned to the services deemed most essential.
In January of 1996, we concluded negotiations for the 10,000 square feet
of rental space we will need to keep our acquisitions, cataloging, and processing
operations going during renovation. The former Athenaeum Press building on
First Street in east Cambridge is an excellent site in many respects. However, we
are not happy with the previous tenants for cutting all the phone wires when they
moved out. All technical services departments, interlibrary loan staff, the art
collection, several special projects, the entire microforms collection, and a core
collection of current British and Canadian law moved to the Athenaeum House
9
The decision not to move the Law Library’s collection of 300,000 rare books was a difficult one. We
have all heard horror stories of fires, water damage, or compromised security as a result of library
construction projects. But the cost of boxing, moving, and storing these books in secure, climatecontrolled space would have been close to a half million dollars, much more if the collection were to
have been kept accessible for use. Packing the books would have subjected them to additional stress and
there would have been some risks involved in their transportation. Since the two floors of rare book
stacks were renovated with climate controls only fifteen years ago, the Building Committee decided to
leave the books in place. Special measures will be taken to seal the space against possible incursions of
dust and water. Temporary fire alarms will be installed. A special air lock will be constructed so staff
may enter and inspect the collection. Books may even be paged under special circumstances.
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and were open for business again on April 1, 1996. Desks, files, computers,
books in process, and staff were all moved to their temporary home in one week,
though technical services was only out of operation for three business days.
Cathy Conroy, Assistant Librarian for Administration, is responsible for all
logistical aspects of the renovation project. She put together a very effective staff
team that helped plan and coordinate this first major move. So effective, in fact,
that when her father became very ill just before the evacuation, Cathy was able
to fly to Florida to be with him. The move went smoothly. Cathy’s father
improved. But Cathy was still disappointed to miss all the excitement. Not to
worry; there’s more to come.
In mid-April, work began on removing asbestos from the attic and subbasement areas that have not yet received that treatment. The basic American
law collection moves to Athenaeum House in May. When classes end, work
begins preparing space in Pound Hall to function as a library for the 1996-97
academic year. Shortly before Commencement, the reference collection
remaining in the Reading Room moves to Pound. By July, the interim library will
be ready for action.
Library staff are planning to do all we can to moderate the impact of
renovation. Paul George, Associate Librarian for Research Services, has
planned the layout of the Pound Library, negotiated special services with Law
School departments, University services, vendors like LEXIS and WESTLAW,
listened to student concerns and gathered their input on special services
required next year, reassigned staff, prepared more intensive research
instruction programs, and considered all the angles involved in providing
something approaching normal legal information services with only 5% of the
Langdell book collection.10
Without recent developments in information technology, such an
undertaking might well have been impossible. But many of the sources students
will need next year will be available on-line. As a general policy, in fact, we will
not take up valuable space in the temporary reading room with books whose
contents are available electronically: no National Reporter System, only selected
legal periodicals. We will saturate our temporary reading room with computers to
provide access to such material.
Fortunately, the School has begun a major upgrade in its computer
services. The HLS Home Page went public in March. The Law School local area
network should result in major improvements to the speed and ease of access to
e-mail, the Internet, and commercial information services. HOLLIS online
circulation now permits direct patron recall of materials stored at the Harvard
Depository.
10
Actually, 45,000 volumes, the size of the Pound collection, is three times the number of books
circulated by the Law Library annually.
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Reference hours will be extended and telephone hot lines as well as
special Internet bulletin boards and Web pages will be created so students can
get staff assistance from wherever and whenever they are logging in.
Library staff are developing plans to make other heavily used materials
somehow available upon request. Additional staff are moving into our interlibrary
loan service.
The International Legal Studies Library will continue to be available for
study and research. However, a large portion of the Library’s historical
collections in Anglo-American law will not be available for use. I have
encouraged our current first-year and second-year classes interested in legal
history to get as much of their research completed this year as possible. New
graduate students interested in historical research have been asked to consider
deferring their arrival until 1997.
On June 7, 1996, Langdell will close. All ninety library staff will be in
temporary quarters. All 150 terminals will be relocated. So will our microforms,
files, equipment, and any furniture expected to return. All of the 500,000 books
on the Langdell open stacks will have been moved and the 300,000 in special
collections compact stacks will have been sealed. Two-thirds of the long tables
in the Langdell Reading Room will go to a furniture restorer with instructions to
“take time.” The other one-third are available to any interested parties able to
handle the removal of an 18-foot, 850 pound solid oak piece of furniture.
On June 11, 1996, the men in hard hats arrive with their dumpsters,
cranes, and jack hammers. Anything not marked save will be ripped out and
tossed. The false ceiling in the Reading Room comes down. The stack
supported floors come out. The benches and tiers in the North Middle Classroom
are removed and two new floors inserted. 350 dump trucks will move in front of
Langdell this summer taking away trash.
Old elevators and stairs are removed and new ones inserted. Old
radiators are removed and new heating and air-conditioning units installed. New
lights are installed. Outlets and conduits are run everywhere. All this takes place
night and day, as double shifts throughout much of the project are required to
meet our deadline for reopening.
The carpenters, finishers, painters, carpet layers, electricians,
telecommunications experts come and go. New furniture arrives.
By the summer of 1997, books are being moved back into parts of the
building. Technical services staff return from their east Cambridge home. In July,
the Ropes-Gray Reading Room is closed for good and the new information
center is opened. By Labor Day, all is ready for the students to take back their
library and for the Class of 2000 to see for the first time what we hope will be the
world’s premier center for legal information.
But much finishing work will remain. Parts of the collection will continue to
return for unpacking throughout the fall. By January 1, 1998, however, all the
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loose ends will have been tied up. On that day, Dean Robert C. Clark will visit me
at the McLean Psychiatric Hospital.
“It’s all over, Terry,” he will say. “I took Jacqui Elliott through it last week
and she thinks it’s beautiful. She said to tell you that she still has the best office
with the best view, but Harvard has the best temple of the law.”
“You should be very satisfied,” the Dean will tell me. “The nagging you
started in the Fall of 1981 has paid off. The students are back in the Library in
greater numbers than ever. Circulation of books is up and the demand for private
carrels still exceeds supply. The group study rooms are filled with debaters. The
computer labs are constantly busy. There are always students in the interactive
video rooms arguing with the image of Arthur Miller. Even faculty can be seen in
the Library, drinking that awful Starbucks coffee you permit and conversing with
students in the cafe across from the circulation desk. The Law School will be
very well served by its rejuvenated library for the next century. When your nerves
are better, you really must come and see it.”
Then the Dean, who composes on his Macintosh for relaxation, will say, “I
just composed a new piece of music for the didjeridu. How about playing it for
me before I return to the office.“
“Of course,” I reply. So I do.
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What’s When?
Date
Event
February 1995

After a successful capital campaign and the completion of Hauser
Hall, Dean Clark authorizes resumption of Langdell renovation
project; Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott re-engaged as
project architects; Turner Construction hired as consultants

Library staff increase movement of books to Harvard Depository
June 1995

Law School committee chaired by Terry Martin recommends a 14month primary construction schedule with a $33 million project
budget; Dean Clark approves; design drawings begun
October 1995

Joseph Story statue moved from main lobby to storage; processing
of materials for Harvard Depository intensifies
November 1995

Construction begins for new electrical power sub-station under
Holmes Field serving Langdell and adjacent buildings
January 1996

10,000 sq. ft. rented at Athenaeum Building in east Cambridge for
library staff and collections; initial staff visits not disapproving
February 1996

Students begin to notice vacant shelves
March 1996


Architects complete plans which are sent out to bid
Athenaeum site receives shelving, new wiring for data, and phones;
technical services packs up and moves, network server brought up
Access to vault cut through Langdell foundation
All paintings and art works in Langdell move to storage; Special
Collections Reading Room closes for duration; staff begin training
for reassignments
HOLLIS on-line circulation system activated so patrons are able to
initiate own recall of selected materials from Harvard Depository



April 1, 1996

Athenaeum site opens for business
April 9, 1996

Bids received from applicants for general contractor
April 15, 1996



School selects Daniel O’Connell Sons as the general contractor
Interlibrary loan of materials not unique to Harvard ceases
Preliminary work (asbestos removal; removal of stacks) begins in
portions of Langdell
May 3-8, 1996

Remaining materials from open stacks sent to East Cambridge
along with state codes and regional reporters from reading room.
Stacks now empty except for recent periodicals.
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May 18, 1996
13

Selected staff reassigned to new document retrieval program and
recall of books from Athenaeum House in full implementation

Installation of stacks and network wiring in Pound Hall begins
May 29-June 3, 1996 
Reading room materials, recent periodicals, Langdell reference and
circulation staff move to Pound Hall
June 6, 1996

Commencement
June 10, 1996

Empty Langdell Hall turned over to contractors
June 1996

Registrar completes class scheduled for 1996/97 academic year;
classrooms selected for study hall space

Work begins on Lewis bridge
July 1996

Demolition begins of North stair tower and Areeda Hall link;
windows cut into Areeda Hall top floor
August 23, 1996

Contractor’s access to site is more restricted; noise rules tightened;
double shifts continue
September 1996

Demolition of South stair tower begins
November 1996

Structural revisions completed
- the year turns -

Interior work continues through winter
April - June 1997

New furniture and stacks arrive
August 27, 1997

Building re-opened
October 30, 1997

Last book returns from storage
April 1998

Formal dedication