Before attending McGill University, the enormity of the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex struck me. My first steps into the library were both timid and excited. Whether you are going to the library to work on a group assignment, cram for an exam, or to pick up a book, the atmosphere of knowledge is palpable. Sure, the current picture of the library is far from ideal—in particular, McLennan-Redpath is striking in its brutalist concrete squareness—but, it remains the knowledge centre of the university.
Across Canada, university campuses are modernizing. Laptops replace notebooks, lectures are recorded and posted online, and courses are taught remotely through Skype and Google Hangout. Students no longer need to use libraries to have access to thousands of articles and documents. In this context, the plans for upgrading the library seem par to the course. The needs of students have changed since 1969 (the year that McLennan was built), and are even more different from the needs of 1893 (the year that the first Redpath library was built).