White Library construction coming to a close

Heritage Campus’s William F. White Jr. Library is expected to reopen sometime in spring of next year, with all planned services moved in and operational.

According to John Strybos, Vice President and Chief Physical Facilities Officer for Del Mar College, the White library renovations are set to be complete in September of this year. As of Aug. 21, the college is awaiting the final certificate of occupancy from the city, with plans to begin moving in furniture by Sept. 3. The process of moving in the furniture is expected to take eight weeks.

The official opening of the William F. White Jr. Library is planned for the 2025 spring semester.

The original expected date for completion, December 2023, had been pushed back following what Strybos referred to as “additional scope” being identified and added to the project. “The building on the interior, we renovated it, and along the way we identified parts of the exterior that needed to be addressed as well. So, we had to test those and find out what was wrong and how to fix it,” Strybos explained. These additions also impacted the cost of the project.

The White Library is set to be the new home for Heritage campus’s Stone Writing Center, IT Help Desk, and the Testing Department. Each of these services will begin moving in between completion and are expected to be operational by the time of its formal opening.

According to Strybos, the Testing Department may experience some delays moving in, due to the sensitive nature of their duties: “They can’t stop testing just to move in, so we will have to coordinate with their schedule; but in general, everyone else will be moved in.”

The White Library is also set to have a coffee bar. Hiring for those positions is currently open and expected to be filled before the library opens to students.

Another major project on Heritage Campus, the Memorial Classroom Building is the oldest existing building on campus. As the name implies, it originally housed many of the college’s core classes. Its classroom environments have since been rendered obsolete, so the college is converting the space for administrative use.

The conversion is expected to be completed by Sept. 30. The Memorial Classroom Building will become home to much of Heritage Campus’s currently existing administrative apparatus, including: the President’s office, General Council, College Relations, Student Enrollment, Human Resources, and the staff and offices that support them.

The Memorial Classroom parking lot has already received repairs and will be converted into a reserve lot for administrative personnel.

The college plans to celebrate the new openings in conjunction with the 90th anniversary of Del Mar College, with hopes to host multiple public, student, and media events in January of next year.