Last month I was part of a group that got a tour of Lavery Library. It is the library of St. John Fisher University. The library had been closed for a couple of years. They renovated just about everything. The only thing that wasn’t touched was the outside walls and the elevator. Technically even that isn’t correct as the library used to have hardly any windows and now there are a lot of windows to make the library brighter.

There were hardly any students in the library as they were on semester break.

This stairway leads up to the second floor where the information and check-out desk is located. Students can sit on those landings on the right to read or have short meet-ups. If I was a student, I would just sit for a while and watch people walk by.

Lots of comfortable seating. Notice that this table has power outlets for your laptop. There are outlets almost everywhere.

The whole third floor is a quiet area with no talking allowed.

There is this whole area with children’s books. I asked why they had children’s books. They said they have a program for educating teachers and that the books are used to create simulated lesson plans. Also some students have even brought their kids there to just sit and read.

Notice all the windows. I think those have special glass that doesn’t harm books.

This is outside the library on the second floor. It connects to the building next to the library.

A display of the history of the college university. It is on the first floor just outside their Archives and Special Collections.

A bust of Martin Luther King Jr. by Jonas Perkins. It is dated 2002.

There isn’t much for genealogy in this library. When I searched their catalog for “Monroe County History” it only showed me 15 books in the library. I did some other searches and it gave me references to online newspaper articles. But when when I tried to open the links to the articles I would have to give use a Fisher student password.

The library intentionally has books on all 3 floors. Before renovation they had approx 150,000 books. Now they only have 50,000 books. Most students wouldn’t notice the difference as most of the books discarded hadn’t been used in over 10 years.