Temporary Limited Access to 4th Floor Open Stacks

Covering the book shelves

The contractor for the construction project has begun covering the book shelves in the 4th floor open stacks area with plastic sheeting in preparation for removing the ceiling tiles there to dismantle roof drains and perform other tasks in the space between the ceiling grid and the roof above.  Removing the tiles will also make it easier to completely inspect the underside of the roof around the area where we experienced a major roof leak on February 21.

The books will be covered and access will be restricted in this area until March 28. Books affected are those with call numbers A-DA.

Until then library users will be able to check out books housed there by using the "Make a Request" feature in the online library catalog, with the standard 24-hour (weekdays) turnaround provided for access to materials in other restricted areas such as our off-site facility. These requests can also be made directly, in-person, at the Circulation Desk in the Learning Commons on the library's 1st floor. Access to the covered books will be restricted to library staff.

Project managers initially thought that only a few ranges would be covered at the same time in the area, but they say the direction of some of drain pipes running across the width of the building made covering most of the ranges in the area more prudent.

The contractor is required to preserve an aisle though this area all times for both staff and library users to continue to have access to the stairway on the Dixon side of the building. The stairway access aisle will be identified with caution tape.

Meanwhile, in recovering from the roof leak we will move forward with plans to contract with outside help to reshelve the dry books from this area that are presented stored on carts in the basement, and will be working with the contractor to make access to the shelves for those books as easily accessible as possible for the reshelving process.