USF’s Campus Improvement Trust Fund Committee allocated $407,600 to the Library to refurnish outdated floors. ORACLE PHOTO/AUDREY KOCZANSKI

The USF Tampa Library is set to start refurbishing its third and fourth floors this March to improve study spaces. 

Emma Goodwin, the USF Tampa Governor, said the Student Government voted to allocate $407,600 from the Campus Improvement Trust Fund to the Library last spring. 

The CITF is a $6.76 per-credit-hour student fee collected each semester, according to the Florida Board of Governors.

These funds are used to support educational facilities in a manner that “maximizes” their effects, facility space and planned development, according to USF.

Goodwin said the committee had about $7 million to allocate last year — $6.3 million of which was given to the new on-campus stadium, $407,600 to the Library, and the remaining funds to other facilities. 

SG was primarily involved with proposing the plan and helping it pass through the USF Board of Trustees and the Florida Board of Governors, Goodwin said. 

Todd Chavez, the dean of the USF libraries, said the donation will help equip the Library with new furniture throughout the semester.

“We’ve selected the types of furnishings that students most favor from the fifth floor and the first floor,” Chavez said. “So we’re going to get rid of a lot of these hand-me-down furnishings that we’ve collected over the years, and we’re going to try to standardize it a little more.”

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Goodwin said SG conducted a Google Forms survey last August to collect information regarding the need for campus infrastructure projects. 

One of the top recommendations from the survey was to address limited seating, power outlets and lighting inside the Library, she said.

“After hearing [the results], we reached out to the director of the library, Todd Chavez, and recommended he create a proposal to renovate some of the library floors,” Goodwin said. 

Goodwin said each proposal submitted to the CITF committee requires a detailed cost breakdown, which is a major factor in whether it is approved or denied. 

Ethan Walsh, USF Tampa’s Lieutenant Governor, said Chavez and student workers at the Library did most of the work on the proposal, which SG later reviewed and advised on. 

Goodwin said that while the Library is not the only on-campus building that needs upgrades, the university does not have the money to upgrade all facilities at once. 

Still, Goodwin said the CITF committee decided the Library was a top priority this year.

“The library was already an existing building on campus that we figured we could renovate without it being too expensive,” Goodwin said. 

Walsh said the initial proposal to upgrade the third and fourth floors of the Library is just the beginning of a bigger project to renovate each floor.

“The project approved to update the library was just a portion of the overall project looking to upgrade all floors of the library to ensure USF remains a top university in study spaces across the nation,” Walsh said.

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Chavez said the Library will refurbish the third and fourth floors, which will be immediately available to students once the work is complete.

He said refurnishing will begin on the fourth floor and move down as each floor is completed. 

“The timeline is still unclear, but we anticipate all or most of the work is to be completed by the end of the spring semester,” Chavez said. 

He said there will be no actual construction, and the project will not disrupt students — except for some temporary blockades to allow staff to move and rearrange new and old furniture.

“The process will not impact students in any way other than the occasional uptick in volume as furniture is removed and new furniture [is put] in place,” Chavez said.

Chavez said the Library will use existing power outlets to lay out furniture and will add new ones as furniture arrangements change.

“Furnishings that are suitable for an institution have to be incredibly durable, so the cost of that is relatively high, but the Student Government is going to make it possible,” Chavez said.