Following changes to funding structures imposed by the Quebec government, McGill has decided to suspend work on the Fiat Lux library project. The project aimed to transform the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex to provide students with an expanded study space and modern facilities. McGill President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini publicly announced the project’s suspension in a Senate meeting on Sept. 18.
The Fiat Lux project would have sought to create a library space that meets the contemporary needs of McGill’s library users by introducing new types of flexible, creative, and collaborative spaces, including a makerspace, media production facilities, and a technology lending program. The project would have also seen the transfer of around 400,000 books back into the McLennan-Redpath complex and would have doubled the existing building’s library space for the McGill community.
During the Senate meeting, Saini communicated that the university is facing significant financial challenges due to changes the Quebec government made to the mechanisms for funding construction and renovation projects, which impose a yearly cap on the amount the provincial government is willing to contribute. According to Saini, these changes in the funding structure were not targeted at McGill and affect all Quebec universities.
“This has forced us to undertake a careful evaluation of all the university’s infrastructure plans, and very difficult decisions have had to be made,” Saini said in the Sept. 18 Senate meeting. “After extensive deliberations, we have come to the painful decision that we must suspend the Fiat Lux library project.”
McGill’s Vice President (Administration and Finance) Fabrice Labeau noted during the meeting that although the Fiat Lux project has been suspended, an altered or scaled back version may still be completed.
Initially announced in 2019, the first stages of the project have already been carried out, such as the transfer of 2.4 million library items—including books, journals, and tapes—to the newly constructed off-campus McGill University Collections Centre (MUCC) in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec. The main thrust of construction was anticipated to begin in 2025 and was expected to last about three years.
McGill librarian David Greene stated that the Trenholme Dean of Libraries, Guylaine Beaudry, informed library staff of the project’s suspension on Sept. 16, two days before the Senate meeting.
“Given the facts we knew already about the changes to the government funding model and how it would impact McGill’s capital projects, we were all prepared for disappointing news about Fiat Lux,” Greene wrote in a statement to The Tribune. “McLennan Library dates back to the 1960s and is in serious need of modernization. It’s clearly inadequate for the current needs of McGill students.”
Sydney Schwandt, U0 Arts, reflected on the McLennan Library’s current lack of books following the relocation of the vast majority of its contents to the MUCC.
“It’s kind of unsettling,” Schwandt told The Tribune. “Normally libraries have books, and for it to not have anything just feels off.”
Greene remains optimistic that renovations will be able to continue despite the suspension of the project.
“I’m holding out hope that a modified version of the project can still allow us to achieve [our] goals, and I’ve been assured by our Dean that she is focused on delivering the core of our vision with as few compromises as possible,” Greene wrote.
Despite the financial challenges the university is facing, the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) stated that it remains committed to providing vital academic services to the community.
“McGill is exploring options to increase study, research and collaboration spaces in our libraries in order to meet the evolving needs of students and other library users,” the MRO wrote to The Tribune. “We’ve gone back to the evaluation of those needs to come up with other ways to improve spaces for library users.”
Greene highlighted the time and energy already invested in the project by people across the McGill community, and urged McGill not to cancel it entirely.
“[A] suspension and modification of this project is disappointing, but we must accept it given the circumstances,” Greene wrote. “However, should the status be moved to ‘canceled’ […] that would be genuinely heartbreaking and a huge setback for our university.”
