The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents have approved a bid from Loerke Construction Group to build Rogers State University’s new three-story library facility.
The regents approved the $3.71 million bid during its meeting Tuesday. Loerke was the lowest of the nine bids the university received for the project. The Vancouver, Wash.-based company operates locations in eight states including offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Ponca City.
Construction is expected to begin in October, with completion scheduled for late 2003, said Tom Volturo, RSU Vice President for Business Affairs. The facility should be ready for use during the Spring 2004 semester.
The building will contain about 45,000 square feet, with the library occupying about 28,000 square feet on the building’s second and third floors. The first floor will contain classrooms and faculty offices.
Graber & Imel Architects designed the building.
The library will be built on the west side of RSU’s Claremore campus between the new student residence hall and Loshbaugh Hall. The current 14,000-square-foot facility is unable to accommodate the dramatic growth since RSU became a four-year institution in 2000. The library has added about 5,000 titles annually, and it now contains more than 50,000 books, 510 current periodical subscriptions, 4,150 videos, and 1,100 CDs.
Features planned for the new library include reading rooms on the second and third floors, expanded student seating and study areas, a classroom, campus and community meeting rooms, and consolidated offices for library staff. Another planned feature is a coffee bar adjacent to the reading room on the library’s main floor. This feature is intended to make the facility more user-friendly and encourage students and other patrons to fully explore the library resources.