Since Aug. 12, 2024, anyone who has entered through the main gates of Georgetown or walked along Prospect Street has seen the construction at Lauinger Library. A year and six months later, the library’s Pierce Reading Room, located on the third floor, is gearing up to be reopened.
The project, titled “Reimagining Lau,” was divided into two phases, with Phase I responsible for the relocation of the Tech Services offices, which were reopened in January 2025. Phase II began later that month, and is expected to finish on schedule in December for its January 2026 reopening.
The construction project seeks to renovate and expand the Pierce Reading Room to the south of Lauinger Library towards Vil A, introducing informal study areas, small collaborative spaces, and windows facing the Potomac. Additionally, the project includes the launch of the room’s new Visualization and Learning Lab, which aims to foster “interactive teaching, digital scholarship, and special events.”
Now weeks away from opening, the Pierce Reading Room fulfills the long-term goal of renovation proposed by the previous Dean of the Library, Harriette Hemmasi. Throughout the past few years, Dean Hemmasi met with students and faculty to ensure that their feedback was incorporated in the planning process.
“Open lines of communication [were] provided to gather feedback across all of the library’s channels,” a university spokesperson wrote to the Voice.
These channels included the Student Library Council, the Faculty Library Advisory Committee, and six focus groups, which met with the library and architectural team to provide feedback between December 2021 and April 2022.
Once construction had started a few years later in early 2025, community feedback was incorporated regarding furniture choices in the renovation of the room. Head of Outreach and Engagement for Main Campus Libraries, Beth Campolieto Marhanka, highlighted that suggestions were sought from ordinary members of the broader Georgetown community.
“The designers working for the architectural firm sent us 20 chairs to evaluate,” Marhanka wrote. “We invited everyone in the Georgetown community to test out each chair and rate them on a scale from ‘Hate it’ to ‘Love it.’”
Along with integrating community feedback, the “Reimagining Lau” project is dedicated to ensuring that the Pierce Reading Room is environmentally friendly.
“Eco-friendly elements being incorporated include energy-efficient [light-emitting diode] LED lighting and water-efficient restroom fixtures, replacement of exterior glass with modern glazing to improve building energy efficiency, and bottle filling stations to encourage reusable water bottles,” a university spokesperson wrote.
The renovations have additionally made accessibility a priority during Phase II.
“Rooms and furniture have been designed to accommodate wheelchairs and other mobility devices, and accessible bathrooms and accessible-height drinking fountains have been provided,” a university spokesperson wrote.
Due to construction, the Pierce Reading Room has been closed for over 11 months. Marhanka noted the impacts of the closure on students.
“Since Lauinger Library opened in 1970, the Pierce Reading Room has been a very heavily used space,” Marhanka wrote. “Not having this popular study space available for a year has certainly impacted many students.”
For the Student Library Council in particular, who communicates Main Campus student feedback to the library faculty, the closure of the Pierce Reading Room has created similar issues.
“Like all students, not having the room available this year has made it harder to find a quiet space in the library for study, relaxation, and research,” Marhanka stated.
Along with closed space and loud construction noises through most mornings, the project has led to blocked pathways outside of the library’s entrance on its third floor, frustrating students such as Liz Harder (CAS ’29), whose go-to study spot had previously been Lau.
“It’s not too bad, but it just gets inconvenient, especially when it’s raining, now that it’s getting cold, or when I’m rushing to get to class,” Harder said.
Some students are worried that the Pierce Reading Room will not be the same study space that it used to be post-renovation. For Katie Hussman (CAS ’28), the room provided her with an ideal quiet study space that was more comfortable than the higher floors of Lau. Now she is concerned that this will change once the room reopens.
“I can definitely see why Georgetown wanted to renovate it because it was a little run down, but I’m worried that the new layout and furniture of the room will not lend itself as much to quiet studying,” Hussman said.
Nevertheless, the library faculty believes that the space is worth the trouble.
“I’m looking forward to seeing students studying at the beautiful, custom-made tables and reading in the cozy lounge chairs with views of the Potomac through the floor-to-ceiling windows,” Marhanka wrote.
Similarly, the new Dean of the Library, Alexia Hudson-Ward, expresses her excitement for this student-centered study space at Georgetown.
“Its debut arrives just in time to honor the Library’s 230th Anniversary and energize our Reimagining Lau efforts, reminding us of the transformative power of library spaces designed for discovery, collaboration, and inspiration,” Hudson-Ward wrote.
