Almost ready to move!

Workers are putting the finishing touches on our remodeled Children's Department, and Children's Department staff are getting ready to move! The Children’s Department is set to move to its newly remodeled area February 13 - February 15.

If all goes well, staff should have all books, computers, and other materials moved by February 15. We're excited to announce that in addition to our new and improved space, we'll have some new books thanks to the Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library, plus some new computers for kids loaded with fun, new educational games and reading activities. Plus, we'll start holding Storytime in our brand spankin' new Story Room! Wow!

Patrons are advised to call ahead to make sure any programs that you would like to attend during the week of the move will be held as planned. Call the Children’s Desk at (706) 613-3650, ext. 314, for more information.

Please also be advised that the new space may not be open to the public over the course of the move, so some of the books and other resources may temporarily be unavailable for use. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we really appreciate your patience as we work on getting settled into our new space. We promise, it will be worth it!

Winding down

We've got lots of big, exciting things going on at the Library as our construction project winds down. First up, the small auditorium!

Remember those worn out, faded red seats? They've been replaced with these!

Plus, new carpet is in, and more updates are on the way.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the Children's Department.

Wow, isn't that pretty? This cool counter will hold computers.

Also, painting! The Department has been painted a lovely sky blue with bright orange columns. They really pop! 

And check out the study rooms!

Other big news around the building... the Adult Nonfiction Section is open. It's definitely a work in progress, as we're shifting the nonfiction collection to the new space, and there are boxes (and boxes) of books that need to be unpacked and shelved.

It looks like a lot, but in reality, only a small percentage of our collection went into storage during the renovation.

We ask that you bear with us as we get everything in order.

And finally, if you've been by recently, you're probably wondering what's going on behind the glass wall across from the temporary check-out desk at the main entrance. Well... THIS!

It's our new automated materials handling unit!

Once we turn this baby on, you'll be able to return your books via a slot in the wall (there's one outside and one in the lobby). The books will be automatically checked in, moved down a conveyor belt, and sorted into their appropriate bins for reshelving. 

 It's the Library of the Future!

What a difference a day makes!

On Monday, we posted some photos of the empty elevator lobby after Young Adult and Audiovisual moved. Just bare floors. It's amazing how quickly things can change... Now we have carpet and framing for glass walls!

 The photo above was taken looking toward the main entrance (See the atrium on the right with the glass doors?) The new Circulation Department is toward the left of the photos where those people are standing by the columns. To the left (outside of the photo) are the elevator and stairs. The metal frames you see zigzagging between the small columns will be glass walls. Carpeting really makes a big difference! (Go ahead and look back at yesterday's blog post to compare the photos... we'll wait.)

It's a busy day here at the Library with a lot of deliveries. Shelving units, cabinets and counters are all being delivered.

 The photo above shows a unit that, once installed, will house self checkout stations. Pretty cool, huh?

And here's what the future Circulation Department looks like today:

On our stroll of the building this morning, we were also excited to see THIS:

 The completed fabric wall in Children's! Isn't it beautiful? The supports below the wall will hold a boat-shaped counter, where our Children's computers will sit. Immediately to the left (just outside the photo) is the new Children's desk. Across the hall is the new Storyroom (which you can look into via windows).

And here are some photos, just for you Heritage Room fans:

That's right... we're starting to shelve the collection again!

Stacks and stacks of boxes containing Heritage Room materials are now upstairs.

 Things are moving right along, and there are exciting changes to see every day!

Moving back in!

Over the weekend, patrons got a surprise when they came to the library:

This is our elevator lobby, where, up until a few days ago, our Young Adult section, DVDs and audiobooks were temporarily located.  Where are they now?

 BACK HOME!!!! We're still working on getting everything the way we want it, but our teen books and audiovisual materials are back in their newly refurbished area. Yay, progress!

And speaking of progress, look what we saw this morning:

 Workers are now starting in on the wall fabric in the hallway between Children's and Young Adult. This part of the building (where that huge, colorful compass is on the floor) is really going to be a showpiece!

Repaving the parking lot

Just a heads up... the parking lot is getting repaved this week!

We plan to have half the lot closed at a time, and only in the mornings (by 1 p.m. every day, or as soon as the asphalt is cool enough), and the work should be done by 1 p.m. on Thursday. Meanwhile, plan for uneven surfaces in the parking lot and temporary striping. Be careful out there!

Also, if you can't find a space out front, there's also the lot at the Clarke Middle School soccer field. It's the next driveway up Dudley Drive from ours, and it's directly behind our building.

A few colorful glimpses of Children's!

Yes, it has been a while since we've updated this blog. Part of that is because you can only take so many photos of drywall and holes in the ceiling. (Some stuff, while important, just doesn't make interesting photographs.) Part of it is that it's difficult to capture the scope of certain projects with a camera, like the newly completed office spaces that our Technical Services Department has recently moved into. Today's post, however, has some real eye candy... never-before-seen photos of the Children's Area!

First up, here's a neat shot showing the cool new carpet in the Children's area, alongside the vinyl flooring with colorful polka dots. We love that cute circle design on the carpet. Looks really fun and playful, right? (For orientation purposes, this shot was taken from the location of the old Children's Area desk. Those doorways you see are the restrooms. The old Storyroom was to the right off camera, and just out of the frame to the left is the doorway to the front of the library (which is now walled off... you'll be entering the department through the wide hallways that runs between Young Adult and Children's when this part of the building reopens).

 
This next series of photos will blow your mind. We were actually giddy with excitement when we took these photos this morning. Giddy, I tell you! Check out this incredible compass on the floor in the big hallway between the Children's and Young Adult areas:

 Wow. Isn't it beautiful? (And yes, it's accurate!) In the last photo (with the man sweeping), those windows look into the new Storyroom. The point of the compass goes all the way into the Storyroom!


This next photo shows the floor right outside the Storyroom door. Can you guess what our new Children's Area theme is?

So beautiful. So colorful. So FUN! We can't wait to open this part of the building so you can see it in person!

In other parts of the building, more work is ongoing. Across the hall from Children's, the Young Adult department has carpeting, and workers are finishing up painting and millwork (that's a fancy term for cabinets and counters).

While upstairs, we were also excited to see this:

Yep, that's right. Boxes of books, ready to go back on the shelves in in the newly refurbished Adult Nonfiction section after being in storage!

Sneak peek of the First Floor!

A lot of change has been going on in the Children's and Young Adult departments downstairs. These two areas were closed off to the public when we opened the new additions a few months ago. The Children's Department is temporarily located in the new large auditorium, and Young Adult books are in the elevator lobby. We had to shift them around so workers could renovate their usual spaces. Here's an exclusive, sneak peek into what's going on back there!

In the Children's Area, workers have removed the walls of the Storyroom and all of the ceiling tiles. It's hard to get a good feel for what's going on in there from a photo, because it's a pretty jumbled space at the moment:

However, the middle part of the First Floor, where our Circulation and Tech Services departments used to be located, is really neat to see. This part of the building used to be closed to the public and was a maze of offices. Now, there's a wide, spacious hallway right through the middle of the building where Tech Services was, linking the Young Adult and Children's departments. Hallway might be the wrong word... this is a BIG, open space, so maybe it's more of a throughway. Here's a cool photo showing work on this area:

Those windows in the wall give us a peek into the new Storyroom (it was formerly the Circulation Department!). This new space will be much larger than the old Storyroom. We'll even be able to divide it into two rooms if needed! See all those spaces under the windows for electrical outlets? Our Children's computers are going to line the walls in this area! (On an unrelated note, aren't those some cool stilts the worker is wearing?)

Standing in the middle of the throughway, here's a photo that shows where the new Children's Department desk will be located, at one end. The Children's staff workroom is behind that half-wall. (If you look at the red column on the left side of the picture, you can get a better idea of where the Children's Department desk used to be.)

Meanwhile, things are coming along on the other side of the building. In the Young Adult Department, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the back wall of the department (where all the tall bookshelves are supposed to be) has been painted a lovely shade of green. That's a really cool curvy feature on the ceiling, too.

Also, workers are installing carpet in the Young Adult Department!

That half-wall you see surrounds the area where the public copy machine will be located. The long windows on the far right look into the new Circulation workroom.


The first floor of this addition (the one that faces our parking lot) will house a corridor of offices for our Young Adult and Circulation staff. Here's something really cool: The former exterior brick wall of the building will stay, with its windows in place. Here's a shot looking down the corridor. Offices are on the left, and the windows in the brick wall look into the Young Adult Department. That open space you see in the distance is the lobby at the front of the building.

We thank our patrons for their patience as we go through the renovation. As you can see by these photos, we have a lot to look forward to in a few months!