Beth and Lou Holtz Family Grand Reading Room Opens
MILESTONE 60 — On September 23, 2023, University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., blessed the newly transformed Beth and Lou Holtz Family Grand Reading Room. The formal dedication brought together former Notre Dame head football coach Lou Holtz and his family and friends, as well as University leadership. On September 27, a campus-wide open house welcomed the University community and kicked off a year-long 60th-anniversary celebration for the Hesburgh Library.
Students and faculty had long requested more appointed space for quiet, individual study. The newly transformed Grand Reading Room was designed to inspire focused intellectual work, which is as vital to academic success as the renewed collaborative spaces throughout the Hesburgh Library.
In September 2021, the University announced that, thanks to a generous gift from Holtz, the 20,000-square-foot space would undergo a dramatic redesign. The reading room would be named in honor of Lou Holtz's late wife, Beth. Education and faith were of great importance to Beth Holtz — this space honors her devotion to learning and love of libraries.
“Lou and Beth had a very special relationship with Father Ted, and this gift is the most thoughtful and inspiring way for Lou to memorialize both his dear wife and his good friend,” Fr. Jenkins said in a release announcing the gift. “Education and faith were so important to Beth, and now the Grand Reading Room will forever honor her devotion to learning.”
“The only thing more important to Beth than her children was her faith in our Lord,” Holtz said about the gift. “She was a humble person and would not approve of her name being honored. She would strongly endorse the fact that Notre Dame students can learn in a wonderful environment. She cherished the numerous visits we had with Father Ted. She did so much for others but never wanted to receive recognition for her efforts. The only approval she wanted was from God. The two most religious people I have ever known were Beth and Father Ted. I appreciate their names will be linked together for the welfare of the students.”
The new two-story space is located on the west side of the Library. The finished space is furnished with more than 250 seats for focused, individual study, as well as soft, comfortable seating around a large enclosed fireplace. It features an atrium between the two floors, a dedicated internal staircase, and walls of windows that provide expansive views of west campus, including the Basilica’s spire and the Dome of the Main Building.
The Beth and Lou Holtz Family Grand Reading Room project began under the leadership of Diane Parr Walker, university librarian, from July 2011 to July 2021. Development of the space was completed under the leadership of K. Matthew Dames, appointed Edward H. Arnold Dean of the Hesburgh Libraries and University of Notre Dame Press in August 2021.
“The Beth and Lou Holtz Family Grand Reading Room harnesses intellectual, imaginative, and scholarly energy in productive and beneficial ways for our students. We are pleased to honor Beth and Lou Holtz, and their family, in the naming of this space they so generously made possible. It is an enduring testament to the value they place on education, and we anticipate it will encourage and foster human flourishing,” Dames said.
Since 2014, thanks to the renewed vision of University and Hesburgh Libraries leadership, coupled with generous benefaction, the Hesburgh Library has undergone a comprehensive interior renovation to meet the rapidly changing demands of students, faculty, and staff. Library and University leaders continue planning and fundraising to help align library spaces with the Hesburgh Libraries’ mission, vision, and strategic framework designed to advance the University’s research, teaching, and learning mission while fostering Notre Dame’s engagement with the global scholarly community.
Learn more and see highlights of the before-and-after transformations in the Hesburgh Library.
