The library at Yukon College is empty.

Librarians and staff have removed all the books.

There are no chairs. There are no tables. The empty book shelves stand as sentinels over one big open space.

When the library re-opens the day after Labour Day, it will be different – much different.

Funding in the amount of $3.5 million for the project was unveiled this morning by college president Karen Barnes, Yukon MP Larry Bagnell and Dr. Judith Arnold, the Yukon government’s deputy minister of Education.

Also addressing the audience gathered at The Pit was Dr. Deb Bartlette, vice-president of academic and student services for the college.

Bartlette explained in an interview afterwards the Innovation Commons project has been underway at the college for two years now.

It’s an initiative to keep pace with the changing times and advancing technology, to enhance not just the learning experience for students but also the teaching opportunities for faculty members, she said.

Bartlette said the Innovation Commons project will improve the distance learning experience, whether you’re a student working from home in downtown Whitehorse, Carcross or Old Crow.

The project creates the space in the library to allow for more group work in the same way as the typical office works today, to foster collaboration while simultaneously accessing digital material, she explained.

Bartlette said there will still be books, lots and lots of books, and there will still be library staff there to assist with research.

As the saying goes, the vice-president told the audience, Google will find you a million answers, while librarians will find you the right answer.

Come the day after Labour Day in September, there’ll also be information and technology staff stationed in the library.

They’ll be there not to just make sure the email is working but to assist students and their groups with technical matters they may encounter.

Examples may be connecting to a particular website or linking their various electronic devices, the vice-president said.

She said if you’re studying in a community and having trouble hooking up with a site, a phone call to the library will get you the IT assistance you need.

Bartlette explained while they’ve been implementing the Innovation Commons concept for a couple of years, the library renovation will give it a home, complete with all the hardware and plug-ins required.

As it is, the capacity of the energy centre that supplies the college, the Yukon Archives and the Yukon Arts Centre is maxed out, she said.

Bartlette explained $1 million of the $3.5 million is being spent to boost the power supply to the campus.

Included in the library make-over is the addition of a second-floor, 400-square-foot mezzanine to provide additional space without having to adjust the ceiling structure because it’s open space from the floor to the top of the atrium right now, she said.

The vice-president said to describe the work as a simple renovation to the library would miss the essence and importance of the Innovation Commons project as a whole.

“Now we will have the space to better support what we are trying to do conceptually,” Bartlette said.

Some day, she told the audience, there will be an immersive theatre screen, and perhaps the use of virtual reality glasses for classroom work, maybe even desktop robots.

“This is a 21st-century learning project, and I am delighted that is where we are going with this,” Arnold said of her Department of Education’s contribution of $1.53 million.

Bagnell announced the contribution of $1.53 million from the federal Strategic Investment Fund, a fund designed to position Canada as a global centre for innovation.

Yukon College is kicking in $531,538.

“This investment will create the right conditions for innovation and long-term growth, which will in turn keep the Canadian economy globally competitive,” Bagnell said.

“As a result of this investment, students, teachers and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that support the country’s best research.”

All the dignitaries emphasized how the Innovation Commons project is a solid step forward for Yukon College as it continues its march to become a university.

“We are very excited about the ways in which the new Innovation Commons will inspire and encourage students and faculty to engage with new ways of teaching and learning,” said Barnes. “I am especially pleased that the request from students for more available private and collaborative study space is incorporated into this re-imagined space.”

Bartlette explained the Yukon government contributed approximately $200,000 two years ago to do the detailed design work required for the application to the federal investment fund.

The current campus was officially opened in the fall of 1988.