turmoil of the vulgar press [into]… a dream palace enshrining in its holy mysteries the power of the word." Comprising fourteen storeys, plus two underground floors, the brutalist and futurist structure features raised podia and a suspended fourth floor. A mezzanine level physically connects Robarts Library to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library building at its southeastern side, and to the Claude T. Bissell Building, housing the Faculty of Information, at its northeastern side. The concrete waffle slab floor plates are adorned with triangular-patterned tessellation. A hexagonal central circulation atrium is enclosed at the core of the building and through the middle of the mezzanine level. The gross area of the building is over . In 2008, the university announced that Robarts Library would be receiving a significant upgrade, the first phase of which was completed in the spring of 2011. During these years a major transformation gradually took place at Robarts, beginning with the renovation of the apexes on each stack floor in 2008 (finished in 2010), the Map & Data Library on the 5th floor in 2009, the Media Commons on the 3rd floor in 2010, and the second floor porticos in 2011. The renovations were intended to create a welcoming environment that would both provide informal study space and function to let people know about the services and resources available throughout the building. Signage throughout the building was redesigned and refreshed to improve navigation and usability of the library and its resources, and new touch screens are already improving communication with students, providing information such as the number of available workstations on each floor at any given time. Robarts outdoor signage can be scanned with the smartphone app Layar for augmented reality links. The next phase of the renewal will be the addition of a five-storey pavilion which will become a new face of Robarts, opening up the west side of the building to the street, bringing a flood of natural light to the lower floors and making the overall environment more inviting, accessible and productive for students. The new Pavilion is anticipated to add 1,200 new work and study spaces to Robarts, bringing the library's total number of study spaces to over 6,000. The renovations were designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated. Features and collections A 1974 article in the Canadian Architect magazine outlines the library's significance to serving a campus community the size of