By Courtney Doucet
As Baylor’s Moody Memorial Library celebrates its 50th anniversary this fall, a number of updates and renovations are keeping the 50-year-old building up-to-date with the needs of modern users.
Moody has remodeled and added technology-based learning spaces to enhance the environment of the library and learning experiences for students and faculty. Over the summer of 2018, many renovations were completed that have refreshed areas of the library, some of which had not been altered in decades.
In an effort to brand the library and add color to gray areas, some of the walls have been painted Leapfrog green, a shade trademarked by Sherwin Williams. New fonts and signage in the same color have also been added to provide directional support to existing and new areas, such as the Moody 104 Active Learning Lab (ALL).
Work started in the spring of 2018 to transform a large section of outdated office space into the ALL, a technology-rich learning area for users of any subject or discipline.
“The Active Learning Lab fills the need on campus for flexible classroom space,” said Eric Ames, assistant director of marketing and communication for ITS and University Libraries.
Moody 104 Active Learning Lab
Moody has also introduced new areas for students to explore technological advances that they can use for their studies. In August, the library launched the Makerspace –– a collaborative work space that gives users access to 3D printing, CNC carving and laser cutting machines. The library will also begin to offer two-week memberships to Maker’s Edge, a community prototyping workshop in downtown Waco.
For graduate students specifically, Moody Library’s Graduate Research Center has a new collaboration room. The room is designed for graduate students to connect with each other and new technology, and it’s a perfect place where students can practice for job interviews.
“[Graduate students] were asking for a space. So, if you’re a PhD student, you’re starting to get to the interview stage. They didn’t have a real space to conduct an interview that was formal. This provides a room for that,” said Carl Flynn, director of marketing and communications for the Baylor Libraries.
“We are looking at things like the Makerspace and the Graduate Research Center, some of those things are specifically student focused, we want students to come and use those things,” Ames said.
A future addition to Moody Library will be the Baylor Writing Center, where students go to get help with writing assignments. The center will move from the Carroll Science Building to the second floor of the library in the spring of 2019. The relocation is the result of a partnership between the Baylor English department and the Central Libraries. The writing center’s new location in Moody will allow for more space for the service, and is expected to increase awareness of the center among students.
“The library is uniquely positioned to build spaces like that because we support everyone, we are the academic life center for the university,” Ames said. “We are not bound by ‘oh, well this room has to fit the needs of this one particular kind of lab or this one particular class.’ We can say this space can be used for anybody that is interested in pedagogy and learning styles. We always want to be listening to what the students tell us they want because that’s how we can stay agile and respond to that need.”
Students seem to be responding positively to the new library additions.
“I mainly spend my time here studying. If I do it at home, I can get easily distracted by some things. Here, it’s a lot nicer,” said sophomore Casey Miller.
Moody Library will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a party at 2 p.m. on Sept. 14 in the library foyer.
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Top photo courtesy of Baylor Marketing & Communications
This is an excellent article. So good to see the updates!
What an awesome upgrade to Moody Library. Students can focus and perform to their full potential in writing.
Great article. So glad to see the updates….much needed and very welcomeed.
What a fantastic read, and wondrous accolades for Moody upgrades, that will meet the needs of all individuals!
Baylor’s Moody Memorial Library collaborative mission for student achieve the is spectacular! From the writing center to the interview room students will interact and find the support needed for academic success. Thanks for penning such a detailed and well written article!
Such a great article. Love that “leapfrog green” and all the updates. Nice to have a beautiful place for students to do their research and study.
I really love the informative article. You have given a very in-depth reading of the new library. Keep up the good writing.