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Office of the President

A New Home for Falvey Library

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December 5, 2023

Dear Members of the Villanova Community,

In March 2022, I announced that Villanova University had received a $20 million leadership gift from Victor J. Maggitti, Jr. ’56, to help realize our vision for the transformation of Falvey Library. Today, I am delighted to announce plans for a new 150,000-square-foot building for a new Falvey Library at the current site of Kennedy Hall. I am also pleased to share that in honor of Vic’s generous support, the new building will be named Vic Maggitti Hall.

This major construction project demonstrates our ongoing commitment to upgrading the University’s academic facilities—as outlined in our Strategic Plan, Rooted. Restless. Located in the heart of campus, Falvey Library at Maggitti Hall will be a dynamic hub that enriches the academic life of the entire Villanova community.

Our vision for Vic Maggitti Hall is an integrated space that promotes collaboration and enhances intellectual inquiry in the broadest sense. The library will empower student and faculty research and scholarship at the highest levels, invigorate teaching and learning, and provide a beautiful, accessible and engaging space for conferences, panels and other events that bring the entire Villanova community together.

Designed with input and involvement from more than 400 students, faculty and staff, Falvey Library at Vic Maggitti Hall will feature five floors of modern, technology-enabled spaces including:

  • Areas to showcase rare and distinctive collections, highlighting the University’s fast-growing rare books, manuscripts collections and archives in high-tech, accessible spaces that will offer ample room for reading, teaching and appropriate storage.
  • An expanded digital scholarship suite where faculty and students learn how to use digital tools and techniques (e.g., data visualization, text analysis and mapping) in their research. 
  • On-site general collections, housed in browsable, compact shelving.
  • Engaging event spaces for lectures, conferences and other programming that will bring the University’s community together.
  • A floor dedicated to the student learning experience, called the Learning Commons, bringing essential academic resources for students—including the Writing Center, The Learners’ Studio (tutoring), Learning Support Services and the Center for Access, Success and Achievement (CASA)—together in a larger, central location.
  • Research and Teaching Commons, a collection of the critical teams and resources that help the teacher-scholar model flourish at Villanova, including research librarians, the Villanova Institute for Teaching and Learning (VITAL); and the Villanova Institute for Research and Scholarship (VIRS).
  • An impressive main entrance that will carry visitors from the Riley Ellipse at the center of campus into a bright atrium. The architectural focal point for the building, the atrium will open to the floors above and below.
  • A significant increase in study seats and meeting rooms, including flexibility to accommodate additional seating during peak usage times, as well as a dedicated graduate student space.

Construction on the new building will begin in Summer 2024 with the demolition of Kennedy Hall, and the new building is scheduled to be completed by Winter 2027. As the project moves forward, I will continue to share updates with our community.

Few spaces on campus are as central to the Villanova experience or so powerfully set the tone for the University as a library. That is why I am incredibly pleased that this project will soon commence. Please join me again in thanking Vic for his remarkable generosity that will benefit all Villanovans.

Sincerely,

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Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA
President