Gelman Library will officially close off its entrance Monday, with all visitors entering through Kogan Plaza for the first time in the building’s 40-year history.

The library’s refurbished entrance floor, which previously housed 17,000 square feet of administrative offices, now features hundreds of sleek chairs, tables and new computers. The offices now takes up just one corner of the floor – two-thirds less space than its previous spot.

Library officials will also clamp down on the building’s security with glass door turnstiles in both the entrance and exit areas and additional security cameras on the ground floor.

Jack Siggins, who served as the University’s head librarian for 17 years and remains a consultant for the building, said security was one of his “highest priorities” as he planned the overhaul.

“We hope what we’ll be able to do is strengthen security to avoid the kind of issues we’ve had in the past, when people have come off the street in some cases, and very surreptitiously been able to get past our current guard system,” Siggins said.

Staff have also installed a handful of new security cameras.

“Security in this building, in any library, is really really difficult because you don’t have many straight lines of sight,” he said.