Tyndale Renovations

It’s been a busy summer for the NSA facilities and library teams! If you’ve been to the library recently (if you're a student, hopefully you have), then you’ll notice there have been more than a few changes around here. And if you were here for the summer, you likely noticed that the library was closed for most of the break. Fortunately, we are back online and better than ever. You are now privy to a very official and totally classified behind-the-scenes look at the remodeling process in the Tyndale Library.

Tyndale circa May 2025

The first week after commencement, the library staff got to work. We started by pulling every book from the shelves along the walls and lining them, row by row, on every table we could scrounge up. Once they were out of the way, we started dismantling the shelves, those on the walls above the study carrels to start with. But this was more than a reorganization: we planned to paint as well.

You may notice that the wall is no longer darker below the wainscoting. That was our work too–in most places, the wall was not visible to begin with, and the color choice was superfluous. After nearly a week of prepping and painting (including tearing out the old intercom system in the western wall), we were ready to build our New Library Order. From there, yours truly left for the summer, because I simply liked painting so much by that point, I went to do it full-time for the remaining Summer months.

In progress!

The primary alterations to the library are the direction of the shelving in Stacks and the newly allocated study areas. You’ll note that the shelves now go East-West instead of North-South, with the spacing benefit that there is no longer a fat column in the middle of one aisle (which you formerly had to either squeeze around, or walk all the way back around the row). The front of the library, by the windows, is now an open area with various tables and seating options for individual work or group projects, along with the computer stations and the printer.

In the back, meanwhile, we’ve replaced the dinky little carrels in each standard with a large set of tables, featuring separations into individual cubicles. These desks are much larger, situated in a quieter area (the silence there will be strictly enforced!), and don’t put you in constant danger of a librarian or fellow student trying to reach over your head for Herodotus (which, if dropped, will likely send you to the hospital).

Finished and ready to roll!

The library circulation desk has also made quite the move—it now faces the entrance, placing both patrons and librarians in a more convenient position. We’ve also installed a new book return, built into the desk! Try it out, it’s free to use.

Lastly, you may have noticed that if you go to the registrar’s office, you will not be greeted by Miss McCabe but by Miss Leidenfrost. That’s because (praises be!) that office now serves its original purpose: As the Tyndale Library office and workroom. If you want to visit the registrar, you must now ascend the stairs to Dr. Newman’s old office.

The most dramatic changes to the NSA campus are by no means limited to the Library, however. The carpet in Calvin and Augustine has been replaced. The North Campus basement is approaching completion, with the new recitation rooms of Burroughs and Bunyan already in use. Bach, Luther, and Lewis finally have wainscotting on the walls, considerably improving their aesthetics. Word on the street is, there are also couches of some kind in the NC lobby, an excellent place to nap and miss your Rhetoric recitation.

As a final note, there’s an active Scavenger Hunt in the Library until August 29th: https://www.instagram.com/p/DNhKtKBM4zH/.  Come visit us for details. We hope to see you soon at Tyndale!