On Wednesday, March 26 at the Great Hall in Levering Hall, the Sheridan Libraries hosted the Milton S. Eisenhower Library (MSE) Furniture Fair, where students were encouraged to provide feedback on a new array of furnishings, which will become available once the renovations for MSE are completed.
During the fair, furniture such as tables, chairs, study pods and private study carrels were provided for students to test out and express their preferences and feedback. Ranging from large, cushioned chairs for reading rooms to open-space, study tables, students were able to mark their favorite pieces that they wished to be incorporated.
Elisabeth Long — the Sheridan dean of University libraries, archives and museums — explained the importance of student feedback in an interview with The News-Letter.
“We just want to hear what the students want, what is comfortable for them. We can go ourselves and look at furniture, but what we want is to understand how students work,” she said.
In a separate email to The News-Letter, Long outlined the future of both the MSE and the MSE Library Annex in her email. She confirmed that the completion of the renovations is on schedule for the end of fall 2026 and that they plan to open at the start of the following spring semester, in January 2027. Additionally, Long detailed that the Annex will not continue to be a library space after MSE’s opening date.
Provided below by Director of Communications and Marketing Heather Stalfort is an architectural rendering of the new double-height reading room that will be on the C-Level in the renovated library. Pfeiffer Partners — a Perkins Eastman studio — has been chosen to lead the design. While this image is an example of what the library may look like, student responses during the furniture fair will influence the final design.
Members of the design team tasked with the furnishings also provided insight into their thought processes going into the project. In an interview with The News-Letter, Dianne Chia, a project architect, expressed her excitement about the overdue library modernization.
“This is an opportunity to really refresh — [to] start from a clean slate,” she said. “From building systems to finishes and furniture, it’s really exciting.”
In an interview with The News-Letter, interior designer Natasha Brewer described the aesthetic intentions of the renovation.
“I would speak on what the new renovation is going to be. It's a reimagination — a more modern, more classic [look]. We’re definitely going for a mid-century, modern vibe. There will be pieces that are modern and still fun and still student centric,” she said.
The furniture provided during the fair was organized based on their locations within the different study areas of the new library — such as group, solo or cubicle. Within these categories, the chairs consisted of those with cushioning and those without, as well as different kinds of backings, ranging from mesh to plastic. There were also different styles of desks — some higher or wider than others, made of different materials or different colors.
When asked about preferences for the furniture, many students favored tall, cushioned seating with back support for lounge studying. In an interview with The News-Letter, sophomore Juan Hidrowoh expressed his appreciation for the chance to influence the selection of furniture pieces and his preference for a comfortable lounge chair with large armrests (depicted below).
“I really like the big lounge chair over there because it’s really soft, and it’s got huge armrests, but I can’t imagine there being many of those,” he said. “I don’t like the hard, plastic study chairs; they seem like [they] would be annoying after a long time.”
Additionally, senior Kathleen Lac expressed her preference for the booths rather than the carrels (both shown below). She compared them to the ones located in the Life Design Lab and discussed her positive opinion of them.
“I really enjoy the booths,” said Lac. “They’re really similar to the ones I see in Life Design Lab, and I see [that] those are working really well for everybody. [...] Everybody can find their own personal space to study.”
Further, while some students appreciated the fair’s efforts to gather feedback, others felt as though it was upsetting that they would not be able to experience the library post-renovations.
Stephanie Rodriguez-Andrade elaborated on her perspective as a graduating senior choosing the future of a library that she would not be able to experience.
“I feel like the spirit of MSE has been lost on campus so far, so it does suck,” Rodriguez-Andrade said. “I think that coming here and doing this kind of makes me feel more connected to what it will be. [...] Being a senior and having known what MSE used to be, it kind of gives more perspective when choosing things.”
Similarly, in an interview with The News-Letter, junior Dayrin Marquina expressed that she felt as though her opinions weren’t very valuable to the library, as most of her grade and the grade above would not be experiencing the new MSE building.
“While I liked the gesture to get students' opinions on the library, it felt really sad since half of the student body will graduate before they can see the final library,” she said.
The interior decorators confirmed the incorporation of more sound-absorbing walls into the booth setups. This would allow students to study with friends on the same floor as those working alone while ensuring that neither group’s focus nor productivity is compromised.
Sophomore Noël Da expressed the aspects of the MSE that she admired and how she appreciated the diverse sets of study spaces that accommodated student collaboration and more private workplaces.
“I really liked the variation between study spaces that felt pretty social and ones that felt super ‘locked in’-focused, so I hope they still have that wide range,” Da said.
Da also expressed changes she believes would fit the reimagination of MSE.
“I feel like it would be nice to have more windows and shelves for books,” she said. “Some of the floors were kind of depressing, so it would be nice to have more well-lit spaces and for the books to not feel like they’re stuffed in the back.”
Noël Da is an Arts and Entertainment Editor for The News-Letter. She did not contribute to the reporting, writing or editing of this article.
