Fourth Floor Reopened Ahead of Schedule

The 4th floor of the library has been reopened earlier than planned. All public areas of the floor and its collections are now accessible again. The 4th floor houses the Latin American Library, the Music & Media Center, and general books stacks with call numbers A – DA.

The floor was closed on Nov. 10 as part of a project that is removing and replacing the ceilings in the library’s existing elevator lobbies. The ceilings to be removed were made with a material containing a low level of asbestos and their removal requires special containment areas to be set up to enclose the lobbies and procedures for monitoring. On the 4th floor the containment area blocked emergency egress paths and this necessitated the temporary closure, which was originally scheduled from Nov. 10 through Nov. 28. The abatement contractor was able to accomplish its work about a week faster than expected. Most of the work in the lobby during the first week of the floor closure consisted of initial reconnaissance and prep work. The actual removal of the ceiling did not begin until Nov. 18, which means the ceiling removal itself was accomplished in about 4 days. The contractor’s ability to handle the abatement work quickly with few complications should bode well as the work progresses to the lower floors.

Next on the ceiling removal schedule is the basement elevator lobby and an abatement crew will move to that area today. Most of the basement lobby is hidden from public view.  A section of ceiling in the basement elevator lobby extends into the library's staff lounge so it will be closed from today until early next week. Also off-limits for the same period will be the basement elevator lobby itself.

The student lounge at the bottom of the main entrance stairs will be unaffected by the basement lobby ceiling removal, although the stairs will be closed for one day, on Dec. 1, to build some scaffolding overhead that will be needed for the 1st floor ceiling removal planned during the intersession.

Meanwhile, the subcontractor installing the fire suppression (sprinkler) system has completed its work in the library admin office, clearing the way for admin personnel to begin to return their offices. Crews had left the previous Phase 2 zone on the 2nd floor early in order to address the area including the admin office on schedule. They return to the Phase 2 zone yesterday. By agreement they now plan to remove plastic covering the books stacks as they progress through the zone, rather than all at once after finishing their work in the area.

Elevator Lobby Closure Schedule; Building Closure 12/17 to 1/4 Confirmed

Tulane’s department of Capital Projects & Real Estate (CPREG) has released a schedule for the removal of elevator lobby ceilings in the the library that confirms the Howard-Tilton building will need to be closed from Dec. 17 to Jan. 4. It will reopen on Jan. 5, allowing the library to be open a week in advance of the start of the spring semester on Jan. 12. The full schedule with its floor sequence is below:  

4th Floor Lobby: (11/10 - 11/28) 
Impact:  4th Floor closed to public access [in progress].

Basement Lobby: (11/28 – 12/16) 
Impact expected:   Little impact because the basement lobby is not a public area. 

1st Floor Lobby: (12/17 – 1/4) 
Impact expected  Building will be closed 12/17 - 1/4 during intersession and will reopen on 1/5. Spring Semester begins 1/12.

2nd Floor Lobby: (1/5 – 1/17) 
Impact expected: Access to 2nd floor from Freret side and Dixon side stairwells only.  No elevator access to 2nd floor.  Alternate entrance to library administrative offices.

3rd Floor Lobby: (1/16 – 2/1) 
Impact expected: Access to 3rd floor from Freret side and Dixon side stairwells only.  No elevator access to 3rd floor.  Alternate entrances to Innovative Learning Center (ILC) and Center for Library User Education (CLUE).

Removal and replacement of the ceilings in the library’s existing elevator lobbies is needed to install the fire suppression (sprinkler system) required by building codes as part of the construction of the 5th/6th floor building addition. The ceilings to be removed were made with a material containing a low level of asbestos and their removal will require special containment areas to be set up around the lobbies and procedures for monitoring. The final part (1/31 – 2/10) of the abatement project will remove some seals around duct and pipe above the ceilings and connecting to a small interior chase within the stairwell on the Freret Street side of the building. This is expected to have only a minor impact on use of the building; a limited number of books on shelves directly adjacent to the stairwell may be covered with plastic sheeting.  The stairwell will still be accessible.

4th Floor Closed to the Public: Nov. 10-28

Tulane’s department of Capital Projects & Real Estate (CPREG) has finalized its schedule for the closure of the library’s 4th floor. The floor is scheduled to be closed from Monday, Nov. 10, through Friday, Nov. 28.

The 4th floor houses the Latin American Library, the Music & Media Center, and general books stacks with call numbers A – DA. These areas will be inaccessible to the public during the closure period. The library will retrieve books requested from the Latin American Library and the general books stacks, and books in these areas may be requested via paper form at the library’s 1st floor Check-Out Desk and online. For instructions in requesting books from construction-affected areas online, see these directions. Some on-demand retrieval of books on the 4th floor from the 2nd floor Construction Concierge Desk during limited weekday hours is planned as well.

Staff from the Music & Media Center will provide a temporary music and media desk set up in the library’s 1st floor lobby and will retrieve recorded materials (CDs and DVDs) housed in the Music & Media Center from requests accepted at the temporary desk. This morning workers are cutting a hole in the wall between the Music & Media Center and the Latin American Library on the 4th floor to add a door that will allow staff to gain retrieval access to the Music & Media Center, which otherwise would have been blocked off.

The 4th floor closure is related to the removal and replacement of the ceilings in the library’s existing elevator lobbies that is needed to install the fire suppression (sprinkler system) required by building codes governing the construction of the library’s 5th/6th floor building addition. The ceilings to be removed were made with a material containing a low level of asbestos and their removal will require special containment areas to be set up around the lobbies and procedures for monitoring. On the 4th floor, the blocking of emergency egress caused by the work is the reason for shutting off public access to the floor and not necessarily the presence of asbestos there--since no asbestos release is expected during the removal process because of the strict regulatory abatement procedures to be used, according to CPREG and the abatement contractor.

The contractor for the lobby ceiling removal project is Quality Environmental Contractors, a firm that has worked in the library before. Their first order of business after the 10th will be to build a containment area around the lobby where the ceiling will be removed, then a crew will add moisture to the ceiling material to avoid any of it becoming airborne while it is dismantled in sections. The material will be sealed in bags and transported down the elevator and out of the building only between 4 and 6 am, after regular library hours . Once the ceiling is removed, all areas within the containment area must be thoroughly cleaned. Lastly the area will be tested and monitored for several days before being reopened.

If the work and subsequent monitoring can be completed before Nov. 28, the 4th floor will be reopened ASAP. The ceiling of the 4th floor elevator lobby will be removed and replaced first. The larger-area ceiling of the 1st floor lobby would be addressed during the intersession from Dec. 17 to Jan. 4. Work in the 3rd floor and 2nd floor lobbies would follow in the spring. Capital Projects & Real Estate (CPREG) has management oversight over the 5th/6th floor construction project.