Publication Date: Friday, December 09, 2005
Main Library to undergo reorganization in spring
Main Library to undergo reorganization in spring
(December 09, 2005) Circulation desk to shrink; children's section to be added
by Saqib Rahim
The 47-year-old Main Library will be more spacious after a rearrangement in the early spring, according to a plan unveiled by Library Director Paula Simpson at a public meeting Tuesday night.
The major changes will include shrinking the circulation desk to increase public space, converting and expanding the media room to hold newspapers and magazines, adding a children's collection, and moving the library's Technical Services unit to the Downtown Library.
"The model that worked valiantly for years before doesn't really work anymore," Simpson said to the crowd of about 20 community members.
With the increasing use of self-checkout machines, Simpson said, the large circulation desk has become obsolete. Sixty percent of checkouts in the library system are currently done through these machines, she said.
The proposed redesign will remove the desk -- which was traditionally used for library cards, fines, checkout and check-in -- in favor of public floor space that may be used to keep books or media.
"Freeing up this space, it's just going to be so much better," said Lenore Jones, a Library Advisory Commission member.
New walls will be built for the current media room. After the expansion, it will contain the branch's periodicals, such as newspapers and magazines.
The current periodicals area will become a new children's section, an addition that is both necessary and popular, according to library staff. Not only will this section house some of the Children's Library's books while the Children's Library is being rebuilt, but it will also bring a dash of youth to a branch that hasn't traditionally served kids.
"It's very unusual to have an adults-only library," Main Library Manager Diane Jennings said.
Some materials from the Children's Library, which is closing Dec. 18, were brought over to the Main branch this week. Simpson said the library would keep some children's books and other items when the Children's Library reopens in early 2008.
Perhaps the most controversial part of the redesign is the relocation of Technical Services to the Downtown Branch.
The library's Technical Services division buys books, catalogs them and updates the library's databases. According to Simpson, these tasks can be done anywhere, so Technical Services doesn't have to be at the Main branch.
But at a contentious Downtown Library meeting last month, some residents decried what they saw as an unfair annexation of about one-fourth of their floor space.
The plan will also aim to make routine library duties easier. It will move check-in from the large central desk to backroom staff areas in the hopes of reducing worker and volunteer injuries from carrying books long distances.
The plan's design is not yet finalized, Simpson said, but she thinks construction can begin in the early spring. She isn't sure yet how disruptive the construction will be.
Editorial Intern Saqib Rahim can be reached at srahim@paweekly.com.
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