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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

PHOTOS: Gelman entrance to open Monday

Gelman Library will officially close off its entrance Monday, with all visitors entering through Kogan Plaza for the first time in the building’s 40-year history.

The library’s refurbished entrance floor, which previously housed 17,000 square feet of administrative offices, now features hundreds of sleek chairs, tables and new computers. The offices now takes up just one corner of the floor – two-thirds less space than its previous spot.

Library officials will also clamp down on the building’s security with glass door turnstiles in both the entrance and exit areas and additional security cameras on the ground floor.

Jack Siggins, who served as the University’s head librarian for 17 years and remains a consultant for the building, said security was one of his “highest priorities” as he planned the overhaul.

“We hope what we’ll be able to do is strengthen security to avoid the kind of issues we’ve had in the past, when people have come off the street in some cases, and very surreptitiously been able to get past our current guard system,” Siggins said.

Staff have also installed a handful of new security cameras.

“Security in this building, in any library, is really really difficult because you don’t have many straight lines of sight,” he said.

The entrance level will have one set of bookshelves, because as one of the project’s heads Jack Siggins joked, it has to still look like a library. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer
Jack Siggins, who retired as head librarian last year but stayed on as a consultant for the project, said the revolving doors are designed to save energy. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer

 

Visitors will pass through glass door turnstiles to enter and exit, which Siggins said are better designed to prevent unauthorized guests from entering the building. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer.
In this multimedia room, each computer is equipped with video and photo editing software as well as computer coding programs. It will be open 24-hours a day. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer
These benches, located near the front of the library, feature both electrical and USB outlets. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer
One of the new classrooms, still under construction, features a 3-D television screen with surround sound stereo. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer
The reception and help desks will be relocated to the entrance floor, from the basement floor. Sarah Ferris | Hatchet Staff Photographer
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