Landscaping Begins

Spruce It Up, our landscapers, have begun working on the landscaping around the new section of the building.  In the last few days, they've been putting down the sprinkler system.  Today, they've been working along 1st North.

The landscaping will eventually go all around the building as well.  This is the west wall.  The window you see is the one on the west wall of the Community Room (Adult Collection).

The landscaping will continue along our south walls, and the island by the drive-through Book Drop will be completely planted.

Raising the Roof in the Old Section!

I have some wild photos for you today! During the last few days, the construction crew has been removing the roof from the old section of the building.  These first few photos were taken last Friday, and show the roof removed from the old hallway area.  This section will have a raised atrium roof to let in the light.

This photo was taken from the old audio books collection area.  You can see the remainder of Leslie Twitchell's lovely Idaho mural to the right.  Our old entrance doors are now blocked off.  They will eventually be an emergency exit.

These fun pictures were taken right down the middle of the old section.  If you keep heading down that hallway, you'd get to the new side of the building.

The walls are still coming down as well.  This is our old staff break room and restroom area.  This will eventually be public restrooms.

This photo was taken from the farthest north west corner of the old building.  The window is our east window where the Adult Collection used to be.  You can see the sunlight streeming down through the opening in the roof.

This is what our old entrance looks like!  You can see the monument to the previous library (the one that went in the flood) out the window.  This area is now a construction zone.  No one can be admitted here without a hardhat.

Here are a couple of views of the hole in the roof.

This photo was taken from the farthest south east corner of the old building.  Its looking through the entire youth sections.  Again, you can see the sunlight coming in through the hole in the roof.

This final photo shows our flagpole and flag that sits out in front of the old library.  With the construction flags, it looks like a carnival!

The Parking Lot Gets Paved, and the Walls Come Down in the Old Section

Well, it finally stopped raining long enough for the crew to be able to pave our parking lot! In a few days, they'll paint the lines, and it will give us 10 additional parking spaces.  We'll also get back the two or three spaces that the construction tape had blocked off by the Tabernacle.

This first photo shows how lovely the fresh new blacktop looks.  You can see a member of the construction crew going over it with the steem roller.  On the building, you can see two holes - they will both be Book Drop holes.  The bigger one will not be operational until we get our sorting equipment, which is sometime in the fall.  Once the slot is installed, the smaller one will be available for drop-offs.

This is a view down our new driveway.  Its on the west side of the building, and will be a one-way only lane with the entrance from 1st North.  No parking will be allowed down this driveway.

Here is where the new parking spaces will be.  They'll be located between the new library and the LDS Semenary building.

And this is a longer view of our drive-through Book Drop area.  The window is not operational yet.  The Book Drops will be operational in a few days.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, demolition continues.  Here we see our old staff restroom and break area.

Now, even the supports are gone between the staff area and the old Adult Collections area.  These photos are a bit dark because there is no power in the old section anymore.

This photo gives you a grand sweeping view of the entire Adult Collection area through to where the magazines and audio books used to be.  Much of the brick hallway has now been removed.

This is a view down through the old Children's area to the Young Adult area.  The back office has now been demolished.

This last image shows the old hallway.  The plywood doors you see at the end lead into the new section of the building.

Demolition on the Old Side of the Building

Now that we finally have everything out, the construction crew has begun demolition on the old side of the building.  Here's a few pictures of how the old section looks now.

The crew has spray painted "DEMO" on the walls that are to be taken out.  You see that here on the wall that separated the area where the public Internet computers were from the staff area.

These "DEMO" signs are on the edge of the Director's office, and the wall leading to the processing area.

As the crew seemed to have so much fun writing on the walls, the library staff decided to join in!  This wall is the one behind where the Children's Librarian's desk used to be.

This is the tiny office in the back corner of the old Young Adult area.  This area will eventually be the Library Foundation Book Store.

Sadly, the lovely mural we've had in the Idaho Collection corner is also slated for demolition. It showed the four seasons of Idaho as you looked from left to right. This mural was painted for us by Leslie Twitchell, and we have greatly enjoyed it.  We're sorry to see it go!

Here we see the beginnings of a hole through the wall to the staff processing area.  You can make out our old yellow staff entrance door in the distance.

This is the same hole, only looking to the east.  The window you see in the distance is the one on the east side of the building where the Adult Collection was.

This photo is a bit later on, and now that wall is completely gone!  Just the supports are left.

The wall the librarians wrote on is now gone as well.  There is no trace of the wall and closet that used to be behind the Children's Librarian's Desk.

The next few photos shows how wide open the library is without any walls!

One of the last areas to be demolished is the old Director's office.

Here is one member of the construction crew working in the old staff restroom.  This entire area will be remodeled into the new public restrooms.

And, perhaps this photo needs no comment.

New Section Opens!

The Madison Library District has finally completed its move to the new section of the building! We are now open for the public to come and see the wonderful new library for themselves.

There are some significant changes.  The new front doors are the big glass ones on the south side of the building. Our old east side doors are no longer accessable.  PLEASE DON'T WALK OR DRIVE THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION ZONE!  If you see yellow construction tape, please don't cross it, go under it or around it!  Its there for your protection.

Also, you'll need to return your items in the book drop in the foyer.  There is no place for returns inside the library.  Just follow the posted signs to find the new book drop.

Our hours of operation are the same - Monday through Thursday, from 9AM to 8PM; Friday from 9AM to 6PM; and Saturday from 10AM to 4PM.  The parking, as always, is a bit of an issue.  Half of our old parking lot is open, and the construction crew will be paving the rest this week sometime (hopefully on Tuesday).  There is also parking available on the street.

We look forward to seeing you back at the library!

New Computers, and Old Furniture

Today we're having some excitement! We're getting our new checkout computers installed on the new Circulation Desk. 

We'll have the two checkouts that we had in the old building, as well as the one for the Circulation Clerk.  As always, you'll have the option to use either the self-checkouts or go to the clerk for assistance.  One of the self-checkouts will have the card reader on it, so you may pay fines at that computer.

This first photo shows the action behind the scene...

..and this photo shows how they're looking from the front.

We're also getting some catalogue computers installed in the Children's section.  They'll be the perfect height for our smaller patrons to use.

The construction crew is also installing our hanging lights in the atrium today.  Here is a photo of them on the floor, waiting to go up to the ceiling.

This isn't a very good photo, but if you look hard, you can see the little lights dangling from the ceiling.  They're quite lovely!

Over in the older section, the push is still on to get all the old shelving and furniture out.  This all has to be removed so that the construction crew can gut the interior.

Here we see our director, Judy Dewey, along with some of our librarians, Anette, Ray and Cathy.  They're working on getting the old shelving removed from the former Idaho Collection corner.

Here's the view down through the old Children's and Young Adult areas.  All the bookshelves and fixtures are still waiting to be removed.

Here is the old reference desk.

This photo shows the same section, only looking from the Children's area back to where the audio books used to be housed.

Here we see Anette and Cathy taking a short break from their work!  As you can see, our old book arch from the picture book section has been dismantled, and is waiting its turn to be removed from the building.

This photo shows how empty the northeast corner of the old Adult section looks.  Most of the shelving from this area is now temporarily installed in the new Community Room, and is housing the Adult Collection.

This photo is also looking at the Adult side of the building, only looking to the west now.  You can see the old tables where the public Internet computers used to be.

This photo shows our old processing area.  All the staff equipment has now been removed.  We still need to take out all the desks and furnishings, however.

This final photo shows the lonely hallway in our staff area where we used to park the shelving carts.  As you can see, everything has now been removed from this area.