Friday, August 24, 2012

Phase III officially under way!

It's been a very eventful week at the library for sure. On Sunday afternoon, our area had a power outage that fried a component of our electrical system. We had SOME power (some lights) but were without important things like the elevator, public computers, and air conditioning. We had to close for a day and a half while we waited on a repair (took a couple days for the right part to arrive from out of state). We were closed Monday and part of Tuesday, but we're back up and running now.

There have been some HUGE changes around here this week. For starters, the temporary entrance is closed as of yesterday (Thursday, Aug. 23), and folks are using our real front door!


When you walk in, the first thing you see (besides the tall atrium above your head!) is the temporary Circulation Department on your left. This area is where our vending/cafe area will eventually be located, along with a new Library Store. You can't see it in the picture below, but the door to the store is just out of this photo to the right.





We have our new books in the lobby, and the Young Adult department (plus audiobooks and DVDs) are in the usual Circulation area, which is not finished yet, so there's no carpet on the floor:




The REAL Young Adult area looks like this today:



It's pretty strange to see it without shelves and carpet! Don't worry... A renovated Young Adult Department will be located in its original place when we're done.

The Children's Area has temporarily moved to our new auditorium on the first floor. Here's Miss Rebecca at the Children's Desk:

And an overall shot of the room.


Meanwhile, here's what's going on in the real Children's Area as workers pack up everything to make way for an updated department:

Wow!

Upstairs, patrons are enjoying the new computer area, including some new computers. Look at these HUGE screens!



Here's a shot of the new Reference Desk, with friendly staff ready to help you:

Please come see us! We do ask for your continued patience and understanding as we go through construction. Things are a little topsy turvy and, yes, kind of confusing in places around the building. Please bear with us, think of how great the library will be when it's finished, and, as always, ask a staffer if you need help finding a book or just finding your way around!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

In flux

Did you see us in the Athens Banner-Herald yesterday? We've got some more photos today showing all the moving that's going on in the Library! Sit back and enjoy:

The Children's Area move is now officially under way. We're moving our children's books to temporary shelving set up in the new auditorium.


The move also includes cleaning out our Children's Area Work Room. For those who don't know, the work room is where our talented staff draw, plan, craft and create all the magical stuff you see in the Children's Area. Naturally, it was FULL of stuff. Here's a pile of supplies, ready to be moved into a storage room in the new temporary space:





 Look carefully, and you'll see some juvenile nonfiction in the background!

In addition to moving Children's, work has started on transferring nonfiction to its temporary digs as well. From here:


To there:





We've also got shelves ready downstairs for Young Adult and DVDs, which will be across from the new public elevator:





These areas are not yet accessible to the public, so if there's a book you want from the affected sections, simply ask a staffer to get it for you. We know it's a little inconvenient, but this transition will be short!

There's a post on This Day in Athens about changes that are going to impact the Heritage Room collection temporarily. Meanwhile, we have some new photos to tide you over.

I didn't realize these display cases were going to be glass on both sides... cool!





 And look! Microfilm readers!


(Check out that snazzy carpet, by the way!)

Workers have taken down the temporary wall between Reference and the new section. It's not quite finished yet, but here's a sneak peak of what we have to look forward to. The carpet in this area (where the Reference Desk will be) is beautiful! Those "windows" on the left are open to the other side, so you can see the glass elevator shaft and a clear view all the way to Fiction. If you look through the middle opening, you can see the current Reference Desk!


Our Computer Operations staff have had their hands full these past few days setting up computers in our new computer area (formerly the Fiction area upstairs). We'll have pictures of that for you soon!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Paving the way

While our staff busies itself moving books around inside the building, activity is also buzzing outside in the parking lot. Check out this photo... We have a new sidewalk at the entrance, and they're paving the lane that goes by the front door:


Workers are also paving where they widened our entrance/exit to three lanes:


Back to inside the building... We've finished moving Adult Fiction and Large Print upstairs to the new section. However, that part of the building isn't set to open to the public for a few more weeks. In the meantime, our staff can go in and get the book you want... just ask at the Reference Desk.


According to our latest information, our Information Technology staff will move next, followed by our public computers (desks and chairs to start arriving next week!). Next, our Reference Staff will move to their new offices. Our Children's Area will move to the new auditorium downstairs (temporarily), scheduled for August 13. Here's a photo of shelves waiting to be assembled in there:


Things are coming together!