It's reported to be the most technologically advanced building on Grand Valley State University's Allendale campus and features an automated storage retrieval system (ASRS) that enables the school to house tens of thousands of books in a fraction of the space required by traditional library shelving.

Construction on the $70 million Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons begins May 5, 2011, and project leaders at Pioneer Construction are in the throes of wrapping up subcontractor vetting for the proposed LEED-NC Platinum facility.

The 153,000-square-foot library features faculty suites, student collaboration areas, a cafe and a quiet reading room and reading hearth that will overlook the campus clock tower, ravine and central campus. Visitors enter through a multi-level atrium with a glass curtain wall and a soaring 62-foot-high ceiling.

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