The University of Southern California in Los Angeles will receive over $7.5 million in federal funds to seismically retrofit its 68-year-old Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, Vice-president Al Gore announced December 2. A grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency program will provide money to help bring the historic 168,000-square-foot library—one of the oldest buildings on campus—up to current building codes, the Los Angeles Times reported December 3.
Construction will begin later this month; meanwhile, hundreds of employees have been moved to other parts of the campus and 800,000 of the library’s approximate 1.2 million volumes were transferred to off-campus storage.
Total cost for the project is estimated at $10.1 million, which includes some money allotted for aesthetic improvements, said USC Dean of Libraries Jerry Campbell. “It’s a grand old library—it’s certainly worth saving,” he said.
Construction should be completed by April 2001.
Posted December 13, 1999.