The Washburn University Library and Student Success building is being moved to the Plass Learning Resources Center from the Mabee Library. Plass has had multiple changes of its purpose recently.
The new library in Plass was marketed as being complete by Aug. 5, 2024. However, the fall semester has started and the library still isn’t complete. Students are having to navigate Plass through the construction, smell of new paint and the noises of drilling.
Miqueas Mazo, junior history major, gave his opinion on the move to Plass.
“This is my first time walking into Plass, so I thought it was quite exciting. I had no expectation of what to think, but when I walked through the doors and I saw a bunch of construction, I thought it was quite fun and exciting,” said Mazo. “I can’t wait to see what they do with this. I know other places on campus are very visually pleasing and very pretty to look at, and so I’m excited to see what they can work up with this.”
Seeing the process of construction has been intriguing to some students and faculty and Mazo explained how he was excited to see it all after it’s complete.
“It’s a new place to explore. I love just walking around and getting lost in places and so I’m very excited just to walk around,” Mazo said. “I have not quite dabbled in the place of Plass. However, I’m excited to start figuring it out.”
The move to Plass was originally seen as an easy project because the building had library space, office spaces and large lecture rooms for classes. It has this space because this building used to be the home for the Law School.
“Part of this building is a library, and so that allowed us to move from the previous library into this space without doing a lot of extra work,” said Sean Bird, senior associate dean of university library.
The reason the move to Plass was decided wasn’t only because of the space inside, but also because of the space outside.
“One of the problems with the Mabee library over time has been that it doesn’t have convenient parking, and students would tell us that they just didn’t want to park six or five minutes away, and I get that,” Bird said.
To solve the parking issue, they moved the library to the middle of a parking lot. This will allow commuters to have easier access to the library.
After an initial examination of the building this summer, building crews discovered that there was more work that needed to be done to prepare for the semester.
Reconstructing the bathrooms as well as some classrooms and fixing the overused elevator are just a few of the issues the construction crews ran into. During the summer, there were also issues with pipes just outside the building.
“The fire marshall has to go in and approve some things,” said John Fritch, provost and vice president of academic affairs. “So it wasn’t anything all that important from a construction timeline perspective, but just a little bit of time to get those things fixed before we could have occupancy.”
They are now closer than ever to finishing this phase of the Plass renovation. The floor plans for Plass have been released and library staff plan on having printouts for students to use to explore and find their way around the building.
Fritch explained how more opportunities are accessible to students, and therefore, more aware of the opportunities they have.
“We just had a meeting the other day where we were talking about how many of our students apply for Goldwater scholarships and Fulbright scholarships, and the answer is not very many,” Fritch said. “It’s gonna be a really nice place as well.”
The first floor will have the Richard E. Shermoen Mathematics Learning Lab, military student success center, trio programs, writing center as well as classrooms and offices.
The second floor will have offices for international programs, Washburn Transformational Experience, Study Abroad, Honors program, First Generation, Career Engagement and Aleshire Center for Leadership and Community Engagement. It also has areas for academic testing, studying, classrooms and part of the library.
“We do some really amazing things at Washburn in terms of some of these programs,” Fritch said. “The Washburn Transformational Experiences are really unique, really unique to Washburn, and the way we do that, and to have more students see them, and more students be able to get involved in those, I think will be a really exciting space when you walk in.”
The third floor will be mostly offices for academic advising, First-Year Experience, new student orientation and student success coaching. Part of the library will be on the third floor as well as the Student Accessibility Services. The fourth floor will only be the library and library offices.
The Washburn website lists all of Plass’ resources and the room numbers to find them in.
“I am ecstatic. I am super excited. I know that change is hard for people, and I respect that, and we have done, I think, a lot to assure that we can mitigate some of that stress that goes with change,” Bird said.
Fritch said some people were very important in the process of the move and wanted to give them a shoutout for their efforts. Those people are Bird; Alan Bearman, vice president of strategic enrollment management; and Eric Moss, director of facilities.
Throughout the process of moving to Plass, Lori Hutchison, executive director strategic communications and marketing, has kept students updated through email. To stay in the loop, students should regularly check their Washburn email accounts.
