Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Central Stairwell is Open; Help Desk Added Near Construction Work Areas

The library’s central stairwell has been reopened and is now accessible from its open 1st floor entrance and each of its access points on floors 2-4. In addition, the library’s middle elevator, which had been nonfunctional for the past couple of weeks, has been repaired so that all three elevators accessible from the building’s central lobbies are working, for the time being.

The increasing need for elevator repairs has been due mostly to the advanced age of the elevators’ mechanical systems and controls rather than to the construction project, but we have begun arranging the repairs through the project until the elevators are upgraded to eventually serve the two more floors under construction. The elevators are more than 45 years old.  Work to replace the old elevator mechanical systems, controls, and cables could begin, perhaps later this fall, soon after a new elevator “penthouse” is framed-in on top of the roof that is beginning to take shape over the library’s new 6th floor.

The central stairwell had been closed since February in order to build one of four interior solid concrete “shear wall” supports that now connect to the frame for the library addition above.

Construction Concierge Desk 

To help library users find materials in areas of the library stacks covered by protective sheets of plastic, Howard-Tilton's Center for Library User Education (CLUE) has opened a Construction Concierge Desk.  The desk is presently on the 3rd floor where construction work is being done above the ceiling in phased quadrant zones. Around mid-September the work is expected to move to the 2nd floor and so will the desk and its in-person assistance. The desk will be staffed Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm, and mostly by student employees. the CLUE staff has also placed signs on the floor that describe what students can do to get a book from an area covered by plastic sheeting outside the hours the desk is open.

Duct Connections Near the Dixon-side Stairwell

Crews are installing air duct and electrical conduit connections, then rebuilding firewall, above the ceiling and around the stairwell on the side of the building closest to Dixon Hall.  The project is relatively minor in scale compared to the fire suppression sprinkler installation on each floor, but it does involve covering some books. Here is an overview of the project for the weeks ahead.
  • On the 4th floor, the project has been completed above the ceiling in room 419 and about a week’s worth of work remains above the ceiling in the hallway outside. Nearby a half range of books is covered. These books have call numbers BC91 .B33 to BD241 .R457.

  • On the 3rd floor, another week of work remains. One and a half ranges parallel to the stairwell are covered and these house books with call numbers HB846 .H53 to HC59.15 .E278. The ends of the some other nearby ranges perpendicular to the stairwell are also covered at present. 

  • The project has just begun on the 2nd floor and may take as long as two weeks there to complete. One and a half ranges parallel to the stairwell there are presently covered and these house books with call numbers PQ1917 .S43 . Z74 to PQ2191 .F63 .Z56. The ends of the some other nearby ranges perpendicular to the stairwell are also covered at present. 

  • Eventually the project will move to the 1st floor as well, perhaps beginning next week.

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