The former ABB Building, located at 650 Ackerman Rd., will be home to many different Ohio State departments for the next four years. In addition to the William Oxley Thompson Main Library, the OSU Medical Center and the department of mechanical engineering will all have space at the newly acquired university facility.

Eight interconnected buildings comprise the new location. Former owners will not completely vacate the building until December, so the OSU Medical Center hopes to utilize the space soon after they leave. The medical center’s administration services, as well as its Battelle facility, will occupy buildings No. 1 and No. 8.

“Over the next couple of years, we will be working in buildings one, two, three, four and eight. Later this year, we will be moving some of our facilities to buildings two and four. We will be redesigning the spaces and maybe put some labs in there,” said Christine Hansen, director of building services for the OSU Medical Center.

After construction and renovations to the main library and the Peter and Clara Scott Laboratory are complete, the OSU Medical Center will occupy the entire site at 650 Ackerman Rd.

Since the demolition of Robinson Laboratory, 700- and 800-level graduate classes in mechanical engineering are also being held in the former ABB Building. To ease the inconvenience, all undergraduate classes, professors’ offices and mechanical engineering computer labs remain on the main campus in Bolz Hall and Boyd Laboratory.

The department of mechanical engineering is the first university tenant in the building and will only remain there until the Peter and Clara Scott Laboratory is complete.

Three additional buildings at the site will store a main library with books, services and staff.

“The university bought the building not too long ago, and now, it just seemed like a very convenient place to house many of the different things the main library has,” said Wes Boomgaarden, preservation officer and project officer of the library renovations.

Building No. 7 is a 50,000-square-foot warehouse that will store a majority of the books. Building No. 5 will hold some books, as well as some offices for the library workers. Building No. 6 will store microfilms and serve as a place for book repairs.

“Within 15 months’ time, we will have moved everything out of (the main library) and put them into 650 Ackerman and into other sites close to campus,” Boomgaarden said.

To prepare for its new tenants, the former ABB Building is also undergoing some minor renovations, including lighting additions and extra outlets.

“Right now we are looking to find the right balance of how much to spend on the Ackerman renovations. If we spend too much there, then it eats up funds for the main library,” said Pete Confar, associate architect who is working on the main library move.

Other temporary buildings will be used as OSU tries to accommodate students on campus.

Sullivant Hall will be renovated in order to meet the demand for additional study areas created by the main library’s closure. About 1,000 study seats will be lost that are normally available to students. Also, Sullivan Hall will be converted into a general collection library instead of a social science one, Confer said.

Project coordinators are also looking for a way to help students gain access to books at the Ackerman site. Although the specifics have not been determined, shuttles will run from the Ackerman location to campus to assist students in traveling to the building, Confar said. Also, a delivery service will be available at certain libraries, so if students need particular books, they can have them delivered to campus.

“The loss of the main library is certainly an inconvenience to students. It’s on the center of campus – it has a good location; people will miss the coffee shop and late night studies,” Boomgaarden said. “However, we are doing everything we can to help students out. One of our priorities is to inform students about where they can go in the absence of the library.”

Despite the accessibility problems, the new location provides ample parking space, and once a storefront is done, it should be easy for students to find the location, Boomgaarden said.

Some students are still unsure about how the move will affect their academics at OSU, however.

“It will be an inconvenience to me. I occasionally go to the library and check out books,” said Pat Landers, a freshman in biology. “I have no idea how this will affect my studies. However, the shuttles will help because that is the only way I can get out there.”