Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Construction Update #4 - Interior Work Begins

Interior Renovations Begin!

While the exterior work continues, the big change this week at the library is the start of our planned interior improvements. During the next couple weeks you'll notice additional noise as the crew reconfigures shelving and shifts material around the building. Our priority is to provide uninterrupted service during this time of transition, so the library will remain fully open.
 
Here's a summary of what you'll notice this week:
 
1. All public computers will be moved into the hall leading toward the business center, taking the place of our audio book collection. Audio books have been relocated to the START of the non-fiction section. The audio books will remain here going forward. We will also receive an additional 4 computers to reduce the time you wait for a terminal during peak hours for a total of 21 in the branch.
 
Workers assembling the new computer desks

2. The reference collection and paperbacks in rotating racks that currently occupy a large area in the large reading room will be moved to upright shelving alongside the fiction. You'll notice that the shelving in the hall was removed; this will be repurposed in the reading room to hold the paperbacks and reference collection. The existing fiction shelving will also be shortened to create additional floor space. With the rotating paperback racks and short reference shelves removed, this will create better flow in the room. The low shelves in the foreground and the spinning wood racks on the right of the below picture will be removed.
 
Constructing shelves for reference and paperbacks

3. Our large collection of movies and television series will be moved to the reading room. Every DVD will now be placed on a shelf which will make locating exactly what you're looking for that much easier. The current location of our DVD collection, in front of the large picture window, will become a sitting area to browse our print magazine collection.
 
DVDs and magazines will swap locations

4. The Children's Room now contains a temporary wall to shield patrons from the work going on to connect the new children's addition and the existing building. So, this room is a little tight for the time being, but be assured it will be much larger once the construction is complete!
 
Temporary wall in Children's Room

5. The community room storage addition has been roofed, and you can get a sneak peak of the interior below. The community room itself is packed with materials, including the new chairs which will accompany the new computer lab.
 
New chairs and construction equipment

Inside the new storage area! Still being completed.

 
Check back soon for additional updates! We're very excited!