HOUSTON (February 15, 2018) – Texas Southern University officials commemorated construction of its new Library Learning Center today in a special groundbreaking ceremony. The library will be located adjacent to the Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs and the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. The state-of-the-art facility is slated to open in Fall 2019.

TSU President Austin A. Lane, TSU’s Board of Regents, elected officials and representatives from Con-Real Construction, Turner Construction and Moody-Nolan Architecture were in attendance.

“This new Library Learning Center will serve as an intellectual hub not only for the university, but for the community at large. Students, academics and library patrons will have an array of resources at their fingertips,” Dr. Lane said. “The library at Texas Southern will become a landmark on our campus and throughout the Third Ward.”

Construction of the $43 million building has a distinctive design and is expected to be completed in summer 2019. The library will span 137,000 square-feet and stand five stories.

The University’s distance and online education divisions, administrative offices, support services and a board room will be housed in the new center. The library will provide an array of resources for upper-level, graduate and professional researchers. TSU freshmen will receive a range of dedicated academic services to bolster their first-year curriculum. Library patrons will have high-tech access to materials and more efficient methods for data collection.

“The influence this new Library Learning Center will have on the lives of Texas Southern University students will last for generations,” said Glenn O. Lewis, chairman, TSU Board of Regents. “We look forward to a library that is efficient and dedicated to serving all aspects of higher learning from serving a freshman just stepping onto campus to a doctoral student doing research looking for that next breakthrough to serve society. We want this library to serve as a landmark for the entire Third Ward community and beyond.”

Texas Southern created a New Library Working Group that provided input to shape the design and contents of the facility. Multiple surveys, town-hall meetings and rating exercises were held over the last two years to determine what was needed in the new library.

“The campus and surrounding community continues to express excitement about the new facility,” said Dr. Janice Peyton, executive director of University Libraries and Museums.