Master Plan

The University funded a Master Plan for the Richter Library and University Collections in 2020. The Master Planning process was conducted by the architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch. Following extensive stakeholder consultations, the Master Plan was completed in April 2022. Shepley Bulfinch also conducted a planning process to develop a schematic design for the Richter Library first floor, completing this work in 2023.

The Master Plan aims to modernize Richter Library to better support 21st century research, teaching, and learning needs at the University of Miami. It includes significant renewal of the Richter stack tower, refocusing physical collections around the arts and humanities and creating study rooms with theme-based collections. The recommended renovations in the tower stacks (unchanged since the Richter Library’s opening in 1962) take into account the tremendous strides that have been made transitioning scholarship – particularly in the sciences and social sciences – to digital platforms. The plan also re-envisions the first three floors of Richter as public spaces, integrating significant new library programs supporting research, teaching, and learning. An additional component of the Plan is a significant increase in the number and variety of individual study and group collaboration spaces; these changes are crucial as the student population has grown by 43% since the Richter Library opened 63 years ago.

The Master Plan for University Collections focuses upon the development of a purpose-built, resilient collections storage facility. The facility would house physical collections and related preservation and technical service programs. The facility will support re-imagining the role of on-campus library collections and modernization of spaces and services in Richter and the subject-specialty libraries.

The Master Plan has been presented to and endorsed by the Senate Library and Information Resources Committee, the Academic Review Committee for the Libraries, the Student Library Advisory Board, and the Dean’s Advisory Committee.