After a well-deserved summer, BSM’s students are returning to a changed school and a big standout is the recently renovated library. The library was remodeled throughout the summer to make this fall more convenient for students. It was divided in half to allow for a larger college and career center. Located in the same place, the library is still connected to the main entrance of BSM. The big question is what’s new and improved?

After the construction was finished and the dust settled, students got to see their new library, and they were not impressed. This is because almost all the furnishing is on backorder and is estimated to arrive on September 27th. CFO Natalie Ramier emphasized that the library isn’t fully finished and it will soon have so much more to offer for students. “It’s just been slowed up with all the supply chain delays. So we’re still going to have a bunch of soft cushy seats kind of around the outside of the room along that curved wall for students to come in and read or study in softer spots. And then there’ll be kind of a lot of tables of four throughout the rest of the library,” Ramier said.

One of the main motivations for renovating the library was to allow for the counselors to all be in one place, making it more manageable for students to find them during the day. Before the renovations, the counselors were split up in the main office and college center. Ramier stated the school wanted to make a space specifically for the counselors. “Stephanie Nichols really pushed for getting them all together in one place. So we did that,” Ramier said.

The second purpose of remodeling was to eliminate distractions in the library for students. Because the conference room entrances were in the library it was distracting for students when they needed to focus. So, Ramier stated they wanted to get rid of that disturbance. “That constant interruption went back to the conference rooms. So I think we really fixed that,” Ramier said.

Many students feel the library is missing something. When asked about the new library layout, Junior Emma Grniet commented on the lack of life. “It’s a little different, the wall is kind of plain in there. Like it needs something to seem more lifelike because everything in there is just so dull,” Grniet said.