Kansas State University

On June 19, 2018, we shared the very first post on this blog.

The post, titled “After the Hale Library Fire: What’s past is prologue,” detailed the devastation of the building after employees reported seeing smoke and alarms started blaring. The first photos we shared of the damage included firefighters crawling on ladders and walking through doorways venting smoke, water pooled on the floor and sagging ceilings and light fixtures.

It has now been three years since the fire on May 22, 2018. This blog has allowed us to share our journey of recovery, renovation and restoration with the K-State and library communities both near and far. We will never forget the generosity and outpouring of support as we worked to rebuild and create a next-generation library.

Some of the most heart-breaking photos captured include Dean of Libraries Lori Goetsch and President Richard Myers surveying the damage. At the time, many had hoped the damage wasn’t too severe. But upon touring the interior of the library, it became devastatingly clear that Hale Library, viewed as a second home for many, had been gutted.

The loss to the K-State and Manhattan community was tangible and instantaneously noticeable. In addition to losing a physical place to study, students, staff and faculty suddenly found themselves having to adjust to a new learning environment.

Questions soon arose, such as “Where do we work now? And can we do our jobs well in a different setting?” “Where can I study on campus now, and how can I still access the research resources I need?”

We were faced with a riddle we never thought we’d have to answer: What is a library without its brick and mortar?

The answer, it turned out, is complicated.

While a library is more than just a building, with its staff, services and collections, we quickly found that not having a physical location comes with many challenges. More than 80 Libraries staff and faculty were left without office spaces and had to relocate to temporary workspaces across campus. In addition to shifting services to operate outside of Hale Library, staff also had the monumental task of cleaning, storing, sorting and reshelving more than 1.5 million items in the building’s physical collection.

A major silver lining of having to renovate an entire library is that it allowed leadership and the community to alter the vision of the future Hale Library and design features that would help fulfill this vision.

When Hale Library reopened the first through fourth floors in February 2021, students discovered more functional study spaces and collaboration areas than ever before. The Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab is on track to give students a new way to learn and explore that they won’t find anywhere else in the community.

Above all, the campus has its heart back. Hale Library stands as a welcoming, safe place for students and community members to come together, study and explore learning opportunities.

We want to thank you for following the journey of Hale Library and the many people who are a part of this community through this blog. While a challenging time in the history of K-State Libraries and the overall university community, the support of students, staff, faculty, alumni and the surrounding community has continuously blown us away with their tenacity to inspire change and love for the library.

This blog will be archived so that future K-Staters and other interested parties, including historians, can have a place to research and reflect on the efforts to renovate a major academic building on a university campus. The K-State community can still watch our stories unfold by following us on our social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and most recently, TikTok.

While this chapter of Hale Library’s story has come to an end, a new chapter is just beginning. This fall, as K-State plans to return to normal operations following the pandemic, students and the community will once again have access to a full library and all the supports that come with it. A new dean, Dr. Joe Mocnik, will soon join us to help build upon the amazing legacy Lori Goetsch leaves behind this month as she retires.

What’s past is prologue. It’s time to turn the page and start our new story.