Renovations to Deering Library are on track to meet the anticipated September 2025 completion date, Clare Roccaforte, director of marketing and communications for Northwestern University Libraries, wrote in an email to the Daily.
Renovations have been underway since June 2024. Throughout the 2025 Spring and Summer Quarters, the Devereaux Foundation Reading Room will be improved to extend the room’s capacity and install new AV capability and furniture, Roccaforte wrote.
“What’s great about the Deering renovation overall is that we aren’t only refreshing the finishes and fixtures of the building, but we are making it more functional and useful for current needs,” Deputy University Librarian D.J. Hoek wrote to The Daily in an email. “Our top goal for the renovation has always been to renew Deering as a center of campus activity.”
The Martin Reading Room, a popular silent study space on campus with its signature stained glass windows, will also see increased seating capacity, with further additions of both traditional study tables and comfortable lounge seating, Roccaforte wrote.
Additionally, the Riggs Gallery on the third floor is undergoing renovations to allow for the exhibition of archival materials, Roccaforte wrote to The Daily. Infrastructure work is set to be completed in the next few months.
“The ‘bones’ of the architecture will remain the same, and all updates being in line with the historical design of the building,” Roccaforte wrote. “We are preserving and restoring as much of the original furniture and detailed features as possible.”
The Daily reported in January that the skylight in the gallery would be replaced with an artificial laylight, a panel that diffuses light, to protect archival materials against UV damage.
At this time, the laylight glass on the interior ceiling has been removed and is being restored, Hoek wrote. The exterior glass for the skylight will be removed and replaced with a new roof soon.
Throughout the renovations, books and collection materials usually held in Deering have been available by request to pick up at Main Library’s circulation desk. Materials in the McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives can be accessed in a temporary reading room in the lower level of Main. Hoek wrote that library staff have not seen a decrease in the use of Deering materials.
“Our goal from the start was to carry out this renovation without disrupting access to materials needed for research, teaching, and learning,” Hoek wrote. “I’m glad we’ve been able to do that, thanks to the flexibility of our great library staff and the understanding and adaptability of the students, faculty and other researchers who use the library.”
As Deering’s reopening date draws closer, plans are being finalized to offer tours of the renovated building during Reunion Weekend in early October.
McCormick freshman Mia Song said she was disappointed Deering was closed for her first year at NU. This fall will give both the Class of 2029 and the Class of 2028 their first glimpse of Deering.
“I’ll be living south next year, so I’ll definitely go,” Song said. “That’s one of the first things I’ll go to when I get back on campus.”
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