By 1808Delaware
Ohio Wesleyan University may be in the unenviable position of seeing the long-term closure of a primary university resource.
Several area news sources are reporting that Beeghly Library, the main library at OWU, will not be opening for the 2023-2024 school year. The reason lies with physical issues with the building, which dates to 1966.
The primary culprit is a mold issue related to humidity and other aspects of air circulation.
In a letter to the campus community, new President Matthew vandenBerg stated that, “I learned that OWU’s aggressive interventions have not yielded a satisfactory improvement in the building’s condition, and there is no solution that will enable it to reopen in time for the fall semester.”
Possible solutions are being identified and evaluated, vandenBerg shared.
OWU’s total collections in its five library locations contain over 600,000 printed volumes in open stacks, 800,000 microfilms and microfiches, and a total of 140,000 maps, motion pictures, DVDs, sound recordings, and computer files. It also houses several important collections, including Archives of Ohio United Methodism, the OWU Historical Collection, and others.
Photo: Public Domain
