Work Continues on the Old Side of the Building

While we're enjoying our new building, the work progresses on the old section.  They are in the process gutting the interior, and putting up new supports and wall segments.

This first photo shows the length of the old building.  We're looking from the old staff area through the former General Collections (Adult) area to the east windows.

Its not everyday that you see a construction vehicle in the middle of a library! This one is helping to install the new support beams for the clerestory ceiling which will run down the old hallway.  You can see a gaping hole where the former front doorway was.

Outside, two of our wonderful construction crew go by, discussing the work.

We're in the old General Collections section looking south.  You can see where the new support beams are going up.

We're looking up into the new construction area.  In the background, you can see the outside walls of the atrium.  The new clerestory roof will be the same height as the atrium roof.

This final picture looks like it was taken outside, but we're still in the old section of the building. I couldn't get any closer because of the construction work going on, but I wanted to show you where the new Library Foundation Bookstore is going to be.  You can see the wall supports are now installed, and it will take up most of the space that used to be the Young Adult area.

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!

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.

Changes in the Staff Room

The second week of March has seen some big changes to the current Staff Processing area.  Our staff door and break room window have been taken out. Also, the old room that housed the book drop has been dismantled.  Here are a few "before" and "after" pictures that show these changes.

These are the before and after shots of the door.  You can see the wall to the book drop room on the back side of the refridgerator.  Here's what it looked like from the older side of the building:

Here's what the door looked like from the new construction side:

They also removed the little room that used to house the book drop.  Here's what the staff room looks like now:

 

The day the trees came down

Unfortunately, these three old pine trees were too big to be moved and in too poor a condition to be saved.

In fact, one of the trees was damaged this summer during a windy storm. A large part off the top fell across our parking lot. Luckily no one was injured and no property was damaged. We can thank the City of Rexburg for coming to clean up the mess.

Damage from the wind storm. 5/13/09

Demolition

The first things on the distribution center to go were the concrete front steps and back porch. We had hoped someone would be able to move the old home off the property, but it would have been too costly. Instead the contractor demolished the building on September 21, 2009.