Relocating the planned Human Services Building to accommodate construction of the new Doudna Fine Arts Center will cost Eastern an additional $2.5 million.

The $43 million Doudna Fine Arts Center expansion will stretch across Seventh Street to where the Clinical Services Building currently is located. The original plan called for a new Human Services Building to be built where the Clinical Services Building now sits.

With the new plan, the new Human Services Building will now be located in what is now the parking lot between Klehm and Thomas halls. It will house Health Services, Career Services and the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department.

Currently, the Clinical Services Building houses Health Services and the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department while Career Services is located in the Student Services Building.

Relocating the planned Human Services Building has caused the estimated construction cost to rise from $3.3 million to $5.8 million. In addition, the move has caused the design cost to increase by $168,382 to a total of $644,382. Both increases were approved by the executive committee of Eastern’s Board of Trustees on Nov. 15.

Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, said Monday that construction of the 30,457-square-foot Human Services Building will begin in April. Cooley said to compensate for parking spaces lost by the construction of the new building, space will be added north of Coleman Hall and some spaces will also be available adjacent to the new building when it is complete.

A. Epsten & Sons of Chicago is the firm handling the Human Services’ design, which includes about 10,000 square feet of space for the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, Cooley said.

The BOT Executive Committee also approved a $320,000 network electronics contract for Booth Library at the Nov. 15 meeting. The library, which has been under construction and renovation since the summer of 1999, is scheduled to reopen in January.

The contract, which is with Keller and Schroeder and Associates of Evansville, Ind., includes all labor and materials for the library’s computer network.

Bill Witsman, associate vice president for Information Technology Services, said the network will connect Booth Library to the university’s network, allow for Internet connections on library computers and will control some building access systems, namely door entry systems.

The network also will host the library’s environmental control system, which regulates heat and air conditioning. Witsman said the same environmental control system is used in other campus buildings.

The network is also used for checking out library materials, so it must be up and running when Booth Library opens on Jan. 7, Witsman said. Once installed, the network will allow for 1,344 computer connections. He said initially the network will host a much smaller number of computers. However, the high capacity will provide flexibility, allowing library staff to move and add computers.