Riley Treegoob | Staff Writer | rtreegoob@mail.smcvt.edu
Since June 2024, the third floor of the St. Michael’s College library has undergone major changes. The children’s section of the library has been moved to make space for Purposeful Learning and Career Education. These will merge to become the Center for Student Success, which will move into the space in spring 2025.
All the children’s books have been cleared out of their previous spaces, leaving signs in place stating “please pardon our appearance, the library is under renovation.”
The children’s section of the library was a resource loved by a lot of students.
“I wrote my best essays there,” said Laura Harrison ’26, a student at St. Michael’s College. “The big windows opened up the room, but it was still the coziest space in the library.”
Rory York ’26, who has been a student worker in the library since 2022, said the children’s literature room was a “nice, quiet place to study. It was a special place for education majors.” York said she believes the Success Center plans to recreate that.
For months, library staff have been clearing out books on carts, wheeling them out of the old children’s books section and into the space to the left of the Daly room. Over 15,000 books were cleared out and disposed of.
Anthony Bassignani ’13, Associate Director for Circulation Services, said these books had not been checked out since 2000, and a clean-out was overdue.
St. Michael’s College partnered with Shred-Ex, a company based in St. Albans that specializes in industrial shredding.
Shred-Ex brought the library bins to transport the books to their facility. “The books were turned into pulp so they will be reused in other ways,” Bassignani said.
On their website, Shred-Ex says all the paper they shred is 100% recycled and sent to paper mills to be turned into something new.
Although new offices for staff members will be constructed, the space will still be open for students to enjoy.
“The area is still going to be very open and accessible to students once the construction is done,” Bassignani said. “ It’s going to be basically like a nice student hangout area.
“People will still be able to study, but they’ll also be able to meet with their Purposeful Learning Success Advisor or a Career Education Coach. I think it’s going to be a really great space.”
Heidi St. Peter, Director of Purposeful Learning, is hopeful of the new opportunities that this renovation will bring for students. “The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m excited about it,” she said.
With the student success resources together in one building, students will have an easier time getting the help they need.
“The library already has academic support, peer tutoring, accessibility, the writing center, and research librarians,” St. Peter said. “There’s already a lot of support there.”
The new Success Center is planned to be in service starting January 2025. According to St. Peter, there will be multiple collaborations with the outreach arm of Bergeron Wellness Center, Be Well, and leadership activities and events around registration and advising, plus presentations on study abroad and summer research opportunities.
“We’ll still do our roommate mingles that we’ve collaborated with residence life before,” St. Peter said.
An important aspect that St. Peter wants to keep from both the old Purposeful Learning office and the children’s literature room is the coziness.
“We’ll still have snacks, and even though there’s Starbucks downstairs, we’ll still have tea service,” St. Peter said.
They are considering different ideas for decorations that will enhance the ambiance of the space, such as warm floor lighting and new paint.
The biggest takeaway that St. Peter and the Purposeful Learning office want to convey is that the space is still for students.
Even though there may be quiet spaces for conferences, it will primarily be a study and hangout spot like the old Purposeful Learning office was.
“We want to make sure that students know this new space is still your space,” said St. Peter.