A new $35 million, 50,000-square-foot library learning student success center at the University of Illinois Springfield is included in the $45 billion public works construction program passed by the Illinois legislature over the weekend.
The building will be situated on campus between the Health and Sciences Building and the Student Union, according to UIS Chancellor Susan Koch.
The center will replace Brookens Library and will house the Center for Online Learning Research and Service (COLRS), the Center for Academic Success (CAS) and Information Technology Services.
All of those centers are now housed in Brookens Library, the university’s first permanent building, which was completed in 1975 and dedicated the next year.
Koch said Monday that the goal is to have “shovels in the ground” by 2020.
“We’re pretty happy,” Koch said Monday. “The need for the building and the things in it has been in conversation for several years.
“This is the project we put forward (to the University of Illinois system) as our number one priority.”
Brookens, which Koch once described as “one of my favorite locations on the (UIS) campus,” is being eyed for classroom space in the future for academic programs like management information services.
Much like with the construction of the Student Union, Koch said there will be in-depth conversations involving people who will use and benefit from the new building.
This article appeared in The State Journal-Register on June 3, 2019.
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