Marshall University is in the seventh year of developing plans for a
major new initiative for 21st Century Library/Information Center which began
in earnest in August, 1991 when Dr. J. Wade Gilley assumed the Marshall
presidency. The project has tremendous support of students, faculty and
alumni of the university as well as business, political and civic leaders
from the Huntington community, the Tri-State Area and, in fact, all of Southern
West Virginia.
Planning is virtually complete and the university accepted bids for the construction of the new library/information center in July 1996. Marshall received an additional $6 million from the state funds provided through Senate Bill 449. Construction began in the late summer of 1996. The Library and Information Center will be called the John Deaver Drinko Library.
At this point, the project has evolved into an overall $29 million effort
which will provide a new undergraduate library/information center as a campus
focal point, resituating of the existing Morrow 
Library as a
specialized library/learning center and equipping of the new center with
state-of-the-art information technology infrastructure. A committee designated
by Dr. Gilley will designate the space assignments and utilization of the
Morrow Library.
The seven-year planning effort has included the library and computer
center staffs, University Library Committee, the Student Government, the
Faculty Senate, the Staff Council, the Institutional Board of Advisors,
the Library Associates, the Alumni Association, the Marshall Foundation
Inc., the City of Huntington, and many other groups. The project was first
authorized by the West Virginia Legislature in the 1994 session when the
university was granted approval to issue bonds and use those 
funds in the construction
of the library/information center. The Board of Trustees has approved the
project on several occasions, including the granting of $100,000 to the
university to employ architects in January 1993. Senator Robert C. Byrd
was able to secure a $5 million grant for the project in 1994.
The Planning Process
This has been one of the most extensive planning processes in the history of higher education. In addition to all of the internal planning processes over the seven years, Marshall has called on Dr. Don Riggs, Dean of Libraries at the University of Michigan, a native West Virginian and one the nation's leading university librarians, as a primary consultant. Dr. Riggs provided his services at no cost to the university. Further, Geoffrey Freeman of the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson and Abbott, a nationally prominent library/computer center architectural firm, was the initial consultant when the program/plan was converted to architectural terms. Then a national competition was held to select the architectural firm to prepare the plans and three of the leading firms in the nation were finalists for the project. The firm of Perry, Dean, Rogers and Partners of Boston was selected and has worked closely with university officials and faculty in the design.