Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Build-back and Hazard Mitigation Project: Elevator Lobby Closure Schedule; Building Closure 12/17 to 1/4 Confirmed

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

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.

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Project Purpose

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is located on the uptown campus of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 its lowest level filled with more than eight feet of water, which caused severe damage to the building while submerging its basement collections. The nearby Joseph M. Jones Memorial Building (Jones Hall), which houses the library’s Special Collections division, sustained major flood damage also, in the lowest level of its library stacks core.

Flooded in the Howard-Tilton building were its music library and very large collections of government documents, newspapers, and microforms. Other areas destroyed included a large area of overflow shelving for general collections and two areas for closed collections storage: one for books waiting for special cataloging and for art and photography titles requiring a secure location; the other for older science materials. Much of the shelving in the basement of the Howard-Tilton building was compact or high-density shelving that accommodated a maximum number of shelves within the spaces used for them. In Jones Hall the flooded stacks core area was packed with closely arranged shelves that housed rare collections.

In the Howard-Tilton building alone more than 700,000 books and recordings were submerged underwater, as were nearly 1.5 million individual pieces of microform. In Jones Hall another 700,000 or so manuscript folders and other archival items were also flooded. The remarkable collections salvage, recovery, and rebuilding effort that followed can be seen as part of an overall library recovery that this next stage of building remediation--a 5th and 6th floor addition atop the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library--will help to complete.

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Build-back and Hazard Mitigation Project

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

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

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