The Plass Learning Resource Center was scheduled to be completed Aug. 12, but construction is still in progress over a month later.
Washburn is moving University Libraries and several other departments into the new Plass building. Offices, classrooms and different student resources will now be located there. The building is expected to hold at least 22 departments and organizations.
Sean Bird, senior associate dean of the Washburn University Library, has had an important role in the relocation of Mabee Library. He is an operations manager of the library and works with the staff, scheduling, professional development, policies and procedures. Bird is very excited about this new building and the convenience that will come with putting all of these resources in the same building.
“We asked the design firm and the construction team to do about a year’s worth of work in about six months, and I would say that they worked extremely hard,” Bird said.
Bird has kept a positive attitude regarding the progress of Plass, however the project that was expected to be finished before students arrived on campus has faced some challenges.
“I wouldn’t say anything went wrong, per say,” said Steve Hageman, director of First Year Experience. “I feel like anytime you have an undertaking as large as this one was, and is continuing to be, there’s always going to be unexpected things that pop up.”
Plass’ schedule was repeatedly pushed back after a number of problems arose through the summer amid its reconstruction.
“I think that one of the things that happened was when they came into the building, it was maybe not in the kind of shape that they thought it would be, particularly behind the walls,” Hageman said. “I think it was just an older building and you couldn’t see it from the outside until you actually got into the building. They ended up having to redo the bathrooms from scratch, which was something that wasn’t necessarily anticipated.”
Even though many seem to have a positive attitude regarding this entire project, it can still be frustrating to students, faculty and staff. The finished project will be a valuable resource for students to have, but unfortunately, they are not fully available to students yet. There are many things that no one anticipated would happen when construction began, but it begs the question of whether proper inspections on the building were completed prior to it’s planning and reconstruction. Bathrooms are an essential part of any large building, yet they appeared to cause several unaccounted-for obstacles, notably the small number of women’s bathrooms throughout the facility.
As construction continues, there is still no definitive answer as to when the building will be fully completed.
“Well, I want to say the sun will come up tomorrow,” Bird said. “People have asked me [if Plass will be done] repeatedly and my honest answer every time is at the end of this week and the beginning of next week we’re gonna be so close. I think there are going to be a few isolated places in the Plass building that are going to need some attention in the next few weeks.”
It seems the project is still weeks away from being finished. It is unclear to both faculty and students when the entire building will be open.
Edited by Jeremy Ford
