Columbia’s library will relocate to 33 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., with the move expected in Spring 2028 at the earliest.
The fourth floor of 33 E. Ida B. Wells Dr. is under consideration to be the primary space for the library, according to Ames Hawkins, dean of the School of Communication and Culture. That floor currently has classrooms and was formerly occupied by the English and ASL programs.
Hawkins said they are very excited to have the new library in the 33 E. Ida B. Wells building along with the Center for Student Success, the Academic Center for Tutoring and the Honors Lounge.
“It makes 33 E. Ida B. Wells the clear first-year building, having all those resources in the same space,” Hawkins said.
The library has occupied the first five floors of the 14-story 624 S. Michigan Ave. Building since 1995 and houses over 200,000 books, multimedia equipment and study rooms.
The campus bookstore on the ground floor of the building is independently owned and operated by Barnes and Noble College.
Gene King, head of corporate communications for Barnes and Noble Education, did not respond to email or telephone requests for comment by the time of publication.
In an email to the Chronicle from the Marketing and Communications department, the college declined to comment on what would happen to the bookstore. Darwin Barnes, the bookstore’s manager, also declined to comment.
The upper floors of the building used to house department offices, faculty lounges and classrooms. Those floors were vacated in 2024, as Columbia restructured its academic offerings, eliminating or consolidating nearly half of its majors. The former Humanities, History and Social Sciences department is now part of the School of Communication and Culture, which is in 33 E. Ida B. Wells Dr.
Construction of the new library space will be paid for from the same $5 million grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education that funded the new Center for Student Success.
The potential sale of 624 S. Michigan Ave. has been part of Columbia’s financial discussions for more than two years.
In Spring 2024, then-President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim proposed selling two buildings to help address the college’s $38 million deficit: 624 S. Michigan Ave. and the president’s residence. That August, Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer told the college community the 624 S. Michigan building would be sold.
The college put the president’s residence in the Gold Coast neighborhood on the market in November 2024 for $2.7 million. It was sold in Summer 2025 for $2.3 million.
In an interview with the Chronicle in March 2024, Jo Cates, then director of the library, said the college planned to move the library resources to several buildings on campus as it prepared the building to be sold.
The college is still considering longer-term options for the building, and it is currently not for sale, according to a statement from the college’s Marketing and Communications department.
Dennis McGuire, the director of the library, said the new library space will continue to be the primary resource for materials students may need for their research and study, but not all books and materials will be moved.
McGuire said library workers have started reviewing books and media to remove from the collection in order to accommodate a much smaller space.
“Libraries cull collections as curriculum changes and once relevant materials are no longer needed,” McGuire said. “We are doing this in preparation for the move.”
College Archives and Special Collections will remain at their current location at 619 S. Wabash Ave.
A 2025 survey from the Association of College and Research Libraries shows campus libraries are becoming more digital. The survey, released earlier this month, found that 79.7% of academic library holdings were digital and 98.2% of circulation was digital.
Last year, Facilities Planning and Management hired a consulting firm, Khoj Lab, who surveyed students about their needs in a new library space.
The survey results, paired with traditional practices in library design, will help the new space have a classic library feel, McGuire said. He said he did not know how many students participated in the survey.
The new library will have more flexible meeting spaces that can accommodate student groups or classes, McGuire said.
When a reporter from the Chronicle visited the library at 624 S. Michigan Ave. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, students were studying and lounging in quiet corners or study rooms.
Adara Schnarr, a sophomore film and television major, was doing his homework on the third floor of the library.
He said that he comes to the space a few times a week and likes being around the books because they make him feel more “academic.”
“It feels more separate than the rest of the school, and it’s very accessible because it is so close to a lot of the school buildings,” Schnarr said. “But it’s still its own entity.”
Schnarr said he hopes the new library space will still have quiet corners he can work in and not become too concentrated with people from being in a higher-traffic building.
Senior music technology major Tyler Dobson was on the fifth floor of the library playing the electric piano.
He said he’s visited the library often while at Columbia and enjoys the quiet space where he can get his work done and play the piano.
“This place is very quiet, very peaceful,” Dobson said. “I’m able to really focus in here.”
McGuire said students know that the library is a space to “find collections that spark their imagination and fire their creativity.”
“The library is a sanctuary from the hustle of everyday academic life,” he said. “Students enjoy both solitary, quiet spaces and collaborative, creative spaces.”
Copy edited by Isaac Russo
