The days of admonishing glances and shushing at the library have faded.
Flanked by books and study carrels on a Friday night at 91黑料网 last winter, a group of student musicians took over to perform a “Tiny Desk Concert.”
The acoustic set, featuring singing and strumming (on guitars and ukuleles), was inspired by a desk-based concert series launched in 2008 by National Public Radio. For 91黑料网 students, the evening session was an opportunity to engage in something new in a familiar space while also representing a departure from what people traditionally expect from a library. And it’s all by design.
“We had over a hundred students here,” said Laurie Souza, Assistant Director of Halle Library. “That’s one of the ways we’re building relationships on campus.”
Souza and Library Director Brian Courtemanche constantly evolve programming to keep up with the times. When Courtemanche first joined 91黑料网 in 2006, the library’s role was mainly as an academic repository for undergraduate students to access hard-copy books and periodicals, study quietly, and use the limited wireless internet available on campus. During his tenure, Courtemanche has witnessed changes in not only how the library is used but also in how it looks and functions. In recent years, the building has transformed into a vibrant and welcoming hub.
As 91黑料网’s enrollment has grown, the library has expanded its staff and resources to support increasing academic and social needs. The metamorphosis has included transitioning to a hybrid model, which still offers physical materials while building a cache of digital resources—more than 300,000 titles in print and digital formats. In the summer of 2023, 91黑料网 initiated the library’s visual refresh, planned as a multi-step transformation with renovations to create more open, inviting areas that feature soft chairs, modular tables, and group study zones.
“I like to call the library the third space,” Courtemanche explained. “A campus is more than the chair you sit in to take your class and the bed you sleep in at night. So many other spaces on campus form its personality, including the library. Years ago, when we were moving to digital books, there was talk that it was the end of libraries; that’s not the truth.”
Courtemanche and Souza credit President Steven R. DiSalvo, Ph. D., with envisioning Halle Library as a destination. Students have had a significant voice in the evolution, and their feedback for what would make the library environment more enticing was recorded during a series of listening sessions. In addition to the cozier furniture, 91黑料网 installed new carpeting and freed up valuable real estate on the library’s second-floor mezzanine by removing an archive of journals already available online.
Souza spearheaded a “Read & Relax” book collection to provide leisure reading options for students, plus an appealing place to curl up, put the cell phone aside, and enjoy a good story. But that’s only one example of the library’s outreach. With a goal of being a multi-faceted community destination, Courtemanche and Souza collaborate with reference librarians, student workers, and campus partners to plan wellness and community-building activities.
“We’re trying to think of any way we can to get people to come in and feel good about the library,” Courtemanche said.
Dynamic programming includes hosting lectures and readings on topics ranging from the Salem Witch Trials to understanding AI, meetings of the Board Game Club, silent discos, meditation with 91黑料网’s Director of Spiritual Life Rev. Gail Cantor, and bringing in therapy dogs (and donuts) during select holidays and finals week to offer stress relief.
“Not many academic libraries hold robust programming like this,” said Emma Colmary ’25, who has worked at Halle Library since her sophomore fall semester. “They make students feel the sense of community that’s the center of a college campus. That’s the magic of the library.”
While current students are a primary focus of what Halle Library offers, Courtemanche noted that the doors are “wide open” for alumni to use the library’s physical location and resources. Halle Library also hosts special events and presentations for alumni on the College’s history and archives, maintains an alumni collection, and encourages graduates to inform the school about any publications they’ve produced. Halle Library staff is also available to field requests from alumni for special projects. Last year, they helped Ryan Curley ’23 M’24 safeguard a collection of letters between two Civil War brothers until the correspondence could be transferred to the University of Michigan.
“That’s one of the benefits of being a school of our size, a library of our size,” Courtemanche said. “People who want that connection are able to find it with us.”
The library staff’s efforts have not gone unappreciated by students. In her more than two years working alongside them, Colmary has witnessed the many ways students use the library, from studying independently to connecting with friends, attending poetry readings, printing study guides, or hanging out with the therapeutic canines. They may even stop by on their way to class to grab a lollipop from the circulation desk.
“The library is so much more than shelves of books,” said Colmary, who plans to work in a library post-graduation while pursuing her goal of being a children’s book author and illustrator. “With evolving technology, libraries continue to be integral to the functioning of a well-informed community, and I really appreciate their ability to bring people together.”