From Program to Punch List: Planning a New Academic Library Building

Abstract

The original David L. Rice Library was the second structure built on the University of Southern Indiana (USI) campus. Opening in 1971 at a cost of $2,500,000 for a student body of 2,624, the three-story facility was built to house 150,000 volumes and to provide reading and study areas on the two upper floors. The lower level initially accommodated general purpose classrooms and faculty offices. The library building was long overdue for expansion or replacement by the mid-1990s, and by the time the new library building opened in the fall of 2006, the student population had grown to 10,021 students.