It was a muddy hole in the ground for months. Men with ponderous machines ripped lose tons and tons of earth, down to bedrock, and when it rained, a brown stream flowed into University Avenue.

Then they hammered at the rock for days. Those of us in White and Clark halls could feel vibrations as hardened steel fought limestone. All tolled,22,000 cubic yards of dirt were hauled away. The hammering continued, pounding a deeper foundation, deeper, as if durability, permanence and stability in this building were not just a task, not just another construction project, but a duty the building of a monument to knowledge, information and the preservation of culture.

Yet no ordinary monument. This library is taking shape as librarians worldwide are grappling with the notion of digital information and how it intersects with traditional, paper-based library resources. This library must blend both worlds, said Library Dean Francis OBrien.”Its a symbol of a new approach to research, information access and education,”she said.”This building is a significant part of how we are going to get to a new world.”

Now, the concrete foundation has enclosed the muddy void (about 1,000 cubic yards of foundation concrete have been poured) and an outline of WVUs millennium library is easy to see. By the end of this month the foundation and footing work will be complete; steel will go up (860 tons of it) and by November floors and an outside shell will be visible.

The facility will be opened by November, 2001. Then renovations begin on the old building, which was first occupied on Sept. 1, 1931 (for a interesting history of WVUs libraries, visit www.libraries.wvu.edu/history ). The groundbreaking took place on the states birthday in June of 1999, and construction began later that summer. It was the first groundbreaking under the Universitys Master Plan. The five-story, 124,000-square-foot complex, including the Wise renovations, will cost $36.8 million.

For Library Dean Francis OBrien, the building will bridge the gap between traditional libraries and the digital library by creating”a place for learning.”

“A lot of effort is being put into quality user space,”she said.”This is going to be a place where students will want to be; where theyll want to meet their friends. The library now well students dont come here unless they have to.”

As construction progresses, Dr. OBrien and her colleagues wonder exactly how WVU will meet the future head on, for certainly its a moving target.”Some people like online delivery; others like a place that is conducive to thinking and contemplation.”The new library addition, she said, will be that kind of place. Yet, online delivery, full-text electronic documents, and a daily expanding list of other digital resources is taxing limited resources.

The old library is going to be extensively renovated, and the West Virginia and Regional History Collection will move into the building from Colson Hall. The Audiovisual Library and Colson reserves library will relocate to the new addition.