WILMINGTON, Ohio — The community had an opportunity to view newly renovated spaces in Wilmington College’s venerable Watson Library at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony sponsored by the Wilmington/Clinton County Chamber of Commerce.

The recent improvements to the library’s main floor feature a new student lounge, restrooms, expanded conference space used for classes and other gatherings, and an ADA-accessible entryway.

Today’s academic libraries are changing from those traditional facilities with bookshelves from floor to ceiling in room after room. Indeed, physical books, while still important, aren’t the main attraction to libraries anymore. The modern library is pretty much 50/50 percent online and physical, so the time was appropriate to start a transformation of Watson Library so it can best serve the campus community and its other patrons well into the future.

Kari Siders, director of Wayson Library, recalled how much has changed since her days as a student library worker at WC.

“The library continuously aims to align its services, resources and spaces to the current academic needs of our students,” she said, noting this renovation represents the first step in “transforming” the library into a space WC students seek out for research, resource and study needs, as well as a place for a refreshment break.

WC President Corey Cockerill shared why Watson Library holds a special place in her heart. She was dating then-WC student Tate Cockerill while conducting her graduate studies at Ohio State University in 1999. Wishing to spend time with her boyfriend, he suggested she work on her dissertation in WC’s library so they could see each other between his classes.

“I sat in a comfortable chair, had a cup of coffee and wrote my master’s thesis,” Cockerill said, admitting that she posed as a Wilmington College student for four years.

So grateful was she to the reference librarian, archivist, circulation desk operator and others for their assistance, Cockerill dedicated her dissertation to the library staff. She could never have fathomed she would return to the College years later as a faculty member and later as its 20th president.

Cockerill said the College is pleased to share its resources with the greater community. It’s yet another way in which Wilmington College “connects” to the community, she added.

Siders hearkened a former, longtime library staff member, Marguerite Mitchell, who, at the opening the facility in 1942, stated, “May the warmth of color and the atmosphere of quiet dignity of the new library be an invitation to all to come within for refreshment of mind and spirit.”