OISE hosts grand re-opening of Library Mezzanine today: all welcome

May 2, 2011

Since the fall of 2010, the mezzanine level of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education's (OISE) library has been closed to undergo a major transformation led by OISE's Julie Hannaford, the Education Commons library director, and Joe Weinberg, OISE's Chief Administrative Officer. A celebration to mark the grand re-opening of the space will be held today in the library from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

The project was a complete refurbishment of the space that will benefit OISE students, faculty, staff, alumni and other library patrons with new group study spaces, and spaces for collaborative work, counter seating, and renovations to existing spaces to ensure they are modern and functional: all areas now have electrical outlets, new lighting, new carpet, and improved air circulation.

Joe Weinberg explained more about the community benefits that result from this partnership between OISE and the Library: "This is a tremendous step in providing OISE students with first-class study, learning and research facilities. Many students and staff contributed to the development of the project, and are to be commended for their hard work. There were also many professional designers, engineers, project managers and suppliers that helped in creating this fantastic new space: we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

The OISE Library is Canada's largest and most extensive education library. The space now contains:

10 open study spaces
11 single enclosed study rooms
5 double-size accessible study rooms with motorized height-adjustable tables
6 small group (4-8 person) collaboration suites (4 with 42” LCD panels)
counter/bar-stool and lounge chair seat

As part of the planning process, participants from the OISE community formed two focus groups to provide feedback. They reviewed architectural drawings which were also available to the community during a mid-project open house. The vision for the space included a desire for greater accessibility, flexibility of space, quiet space, and group space.

The community shared its anticipation for the results at every step of the project. As Joan Turner, an M.Ed. candidate in the Adult Education and Community Development Program at OISE said: “I have been looking forward to the reopening of the mezzanine level after renovations as I focus much better on my research while working in the quiet space that it affords. Being able to work in an enclosed space within the larger setting facilitates my concentration on research and writing and allows me to be much more productive. I look forward to using the newly renovated space every day throughout the spring session as I complete my degree!”

View the mezzanine space project before pictures and read more about the OISE Library renovations.

To see the results, visit the mezzanine level of the Library today!