Amid ongoing renovations at Lilly Library, Duke’s primary East Campus library, first-years shared their disappointment over the closure and expressed a general lack of knowledge on how to access library resources.
Lilly, opened in 1927, was originally built to meet the needs of around 650 students. However, after only one partial renovation project in 1993 and the growth of the University’s first-year classes to over 1,700 students, Lilly is now closed for renovations until summer 2026 to address water leaks, high humidity levels and deteriorating building systems, as well as outdated facilities, user space and technology.
The library began major renovations in May, which are expected to increase the building’s size by 75% and provide new amenities including a cafe, writing studio, special education testing center and 75-seat assembly room.
The estimated cost of the project now runs at $64 million, funded largely by the Duke Endowment, as well as a $5 million donation from Lilly Endowment Inc.
Senior Madison Perez shared that Lilly was a pivotal part of her first-year experience, adding that the renovations would likely create inconveniences for the Class of 2028 and future classes.
“I think that East Campus itself is … definitely its own little section of the campus,” said senior Madison Perez. “[So] having the library there was super convenient to a lot of students,” she added, noting her disappointment that it would be closed for the foreseeable future.
First-year Lila Bragard was also “very disappointed” when she heard about the library’s closure, noting that she viewed studying in the library as a “central part of the [first-year] and just [the] college experience in general.”
Until renovations are complete, Lilly librarians and limited library services — such as scanning, printing, and reserving and returning books — are available for students to access at the Bishop’s House behind Bassett dorm. Students can also go to Perkins and Bostock Libraries on West Campus to access films, journals and other collections materials.
None of the first-years interviewed knew Lilly’s staff had moved to the Bishop’s House, nor where the facility was located.
Without a library on East Campus, first-years now often study in their dorms, common room spaces, or other spots they’ve found across campus.
First-year Libby Vanderpeer shared that she will sometimes take the bus to West Campus to go to Perkins Library or the Brodhead Center.
According to Bragard, the basement of Gilbert-Addoms dorm has become “the hotspot studying location on East Campus” for first-years. While she noted it is “fun to socialize” there, she also said it remains relatively “dark and enclosed” and “doesn't provide the same feeling of an older building on campus,” as Lilly did.
For first-years who are unfamiliar with study spots on campus, Perez shared some popular spots she has found throughout her time at Duke, including Trinity Cafe on East Campus, as well as the common rooms in West Campus dorms, the Brodhead Center, Grainger Hall and the Wellness Center.
Lilly will still be in the process of renovations throughout at least one more incoming first-year class’ stay on East Campus, according to the projected summer 2026 completion date. For those students, it may mean they never set foot in the facility.
“I guess it's hard to imagine to what extent I would use the library in the first place, since I've never visited it, and because I don't know what the space looks like,” Bragard said. “ … So in a sense, I'm disappointed, but in a[nother] sense, I also know that once it opens, I could maybe visit once and never go back.”
Official updates on the renovation and expansion of Lilly Library are posted on the Lilly Project website. An exhaustive list of available library spaces at Duke can be found on the Duke Libraries website.
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