Library services on the University City campus moved to Griffith Hall at the start of the fall semester, following the early closure of Joseph W. England Library due to air conditioning failures over the summer.

The Aug. 23 move was announced in a message from Anne Krakow, St. Joe’s library director, posted to the Saint Joseph’s University Libraries website Aug. 16. UCity students also received an email with the news from Jean McGivney-Burelle, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, Aug. 19.

The new Griffith Library location was planned, set up and made ready for students in only about 60 days over the summer, said Hilda Wilson, building operations coordinator of the UCity location for Saint Joseph’s University Libraries.

“It was all hands on deck from everywhere, just making sure the library opens on time and the library is ready for its students when classes started,” Wilson said.

In January 2024, the university announced contingent plans to vacate England Library by the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. However, plans to move library services to Griffith Hall were “accelerated” due to the air conditioning issues, wrote Ken Ogawa, associate vice president of administrative services, in response to written questions from The Hawk.

“The entire building’s HVAC system would have to be replaced to restore full service to the building. Given the already planned closure of England Library, this was not practical,” Ogawa wrote.

Krakow’s message announcing the closure added, “On Sept. 30, we will reassess the situation to determine if the England Library can be reopened as an additional quiet study space for the remainder of the academic year.”

This decision to reopen England Library in some capacity depends on three things, Krakow said in an interview with The Hawk: temperature, staffing and need.

Before its closure, England Library’s usage was on the decline, as previously reported in The Hawk. In the year from June 2022 to May 31, 2023, there were 100,504 gate entries into England Library. This decreased to 43,248 entries for the fall 2023 semester. Gate entries include library staff, faculty and students entering the library.

Numbers continued to decline in the spring 2024 semester. From January to May 2024, there were 39,588 gate entries to England Library, Wilson said.

While Griffith Library does not have a swipe or gate entry count, foot traffic counts taken by Wilson estimated 730 visitors to Griffith Library from Sept. 9 to Sept. 19. Wilson counted the number of visitors every 30 minutes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The estimate of 730 visitors includes visitors counted multiple times if they remained in the library for multiple 30-minute periods.

Jen Hasse, head of access services and student experience for Saint Joseph’s University Libraries, said England Library was underutilized, and the new space in Griffith Hall reflects that.

“[Griffith Library is] everything that we had. It’s just less of it, but that matches the reduced population,” Hasse said. “England Library was pretty empty, it was not being used to capacity, so it feels like a more efficient use of resources.”

If England Library does reopen, it will be as a study building, with library services remaining in Griffith Library, Krakow said.

But having both spaces open may isolate students even more, Hasse said.

“If you’re spreading people out across this big campus, it makes everything feel really empty,” Hasse said. “Having this smaller, more central library space is bringing people here. We open up another space, are we then going to create a situation where there’s a handful of people here, a handful of people there? We want to be bringing people together so they feel like they’re on a vibrant campus.”

Carly Robinson ’26, PharmD ’28, said each floor of England Library “had a different feel to it,” and UCity students were worried this would be lost in a new location.

“If you wanted to go with your friends and have a study room, there was an option for that. If you wanted to play games or use the craft storage stuff, there was a space for that. And if you wanted silence, there was room for that,” Robinson said. “People were really concerned about how that would transfer to another location on campus.”

Griffith Library, located in Griffith Hall, Suite 208, replicates the floors of England Library in a more condensed area. There are various reservable single and group study rooms, capturing the different noise levels of each floor. There is also a 24-hour silent study room open to all St. Joe’s students.

The main library space is outfitted with furniture+, shelving and decor taken directly from England Library. A collection of books fills the shelves and displays, along with anatomy models and leisure reading collections. Printers and computers are also available for student use.

Also affected by the closure of England Library were the UCity locations of the Writing Center and HawkHUB, St. Joe’s food and basic needs resource center.

Both used the England Library as their home base, and now, both have relocated into rooms in the Athletic/ Recreation Center (ARC), just a year after moving into England Library from Alumni Hall.

“Ultimately, our goal is to find a space that allows us to be visible to students and accessible to students in the community,” said Jenny Spinner, Ph.D., professor of English, director of the Writing Center and faculty advisor for HawkHUB.

The Writing Center’s location in the ARC is smaller than their former England Library space, said Billy Scott ’25, DPT ’27, lead tutor on the UCity campus.

“Now we only have three tables, two chairs. Our reception desk is outside of the room, and there’s no back office for where our supervisor would normally be,” Scott said. “It’s definitely a lot more intimate of a space. I can imagine if there’s more than one appointment going on here, it could be a little hectic.”

Even so, Spinner said the staff of both the Writing Center and HawkHUB are trying to stay positive and send the message that “We’re still here.”

“You’ve got to go find us again,” Spinner said, “but we’re here for you. For HawkHUB in particular, we understand that there’s a need, there’s food insecurity at UCity as well, and as long as we have a campus there, HawkHUB will be there.”

Kyla Valver ’25, DrOT ’27, a UCity library student worker, said she was “surprised in a good way” by the new space in Griffith Hall but still misses England Library.

“I feel everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s in Griffith? What?’” Valver said. “It’s not terrible. I like how there’s a lot of windows and a lot of lighting compared to the [England] Library. But I do still miss the library, because that was one of our buildings.”

Liang Ren ’25, PharmD ’27, University Student Senate’s vice president of University City, said the closure of England Library is going to be a major adjustment for students across the UCity campus.

“For a lot of our students, it’s the loss of that space that really gets to them,” Ren said. “That melancholic feeling of, ‘Wow, my campus, the place that I used to call home, the place that I had many finals, had many countless nights, countless hours studying, is being gutted.’”

In situations like these, Wilson said, it is essential to keep moving forward.

“Each year, each day changes,” Wilson said. “Each day brings a new set of challenges, but not just challenges. It brings celebrations. It brings everything. If I’m stuck across the street because I don’t want to leave the England Library, I won’t get to come over here and see the beauty and the new opportunities.”