Three years ago, as construction began on the new Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, it became clear that the Eccles Health Sciences Library (EHSL) also needed an update to become more earthquake safe. But instead of tearing down the building and erasing its history, the U hired a team to complete a seismic retrofit.

After almost three years of construction, the retrofit was finally completed on Feb. 10, allowing visitors to see the updated library for themselves.

“The very first thing they’ll see is the beauty of the Core that we put in,” says EHSL Executive Director Catherine Soehner. The Core, a large structure at the center of the library, was primarily built to stabilize the building against earthquakes, but its construction also created opportunities to update many of the building’s facilities.

Renovations include modernized, publicly accessible restrooms on every floor and new elevators to replace the old ones that were smaller and frequently broke down. The library also has a new service desk, a lactation room and double the number of study rooms—an especially exciting change for students because the original study rooms were constantly booked.

“We also have an underground walkway that will connect to the new medical school building,” adds EHSL Associate Director Heidi Greenberg. “When that opens, it will be really nice for students to move through these buildings pretty easily.”

The library’s aesthetic features were also taken into careful consideration during the retrofit.

“For interior finishes, we used tones, textures and patterns that evoke the familiar qualities of a library and draw from the existing unique characteristics of EHSL,” says Libby Haslam, the project’s architect from Studio LP.

Haslam’s team was careful to preserve the building’s original design intent. They repurposed items like doors and lettering from areas of the building that were demolished.

“I think that makes a huge difference,” says Soehner. “Things look as though they belong. The beauty of the building really shines through.”

The Core itself is surrounded by hemlock wood with embedded display cases that will house several library exhibits. One new exhibit will include artifacts from the library’s History of Medicine collection, which visitors rarely get to see.

“We’re very purposefully bringing that material out to act as artwork or part of displays for the library,” says Soehner.

Meanwhile, pieces created by medical students in the Layers of Medicine course, which explores medicine through a humanities lens, are selected each year to be displayed somewhere in the library. The new display cases will allow them to finally come together in a single exhibit.

The EHSL team is excited for students to finally make use of the building’s upgrades.

“Library space is heavily used because our students don’t have their own office spaces,” notes Soehner. “This is a haven of quiet for them to reflect and learn and study.”

“We really want the students to take ownership of the library,” Greenberg adds. “We want it to be a beautiful place for students to study and spend their time.”

The EHSL hosted an open house on Feb. 10 to celebrate the retrofit’s completion. Visitors were able to check out the building’s finalized design and visit information tables to learn more about library services. The library remains open for business and will have a formal re-opening event in August 2026.

Haslam looks forward to seeing how the renovations will continue to benefit library users. “It has been a privilege to collaborate with the users and facilities team, while incorporating vital input from staff, students, faculty, practitioners and our design and engineering partners,” she says. “We cannot wait to see the library operate at full capacity as we open the space for its intended use.”