Library Director: Construction Could Present Difficulties to Staff, Patrons

The director of the Library of the Chathams discussed the various concerns she has about the ceiling and lighting construction project set to take place in the building in the near future.

A portion of the library stacks where approximately 70,000 older books are kept will be off-limits to the public for two weeks while renovations are made to that area to improve the lighting and replace the current tiles that are falling apart.

During Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Diane O’Brien said one of the major concerns is space utilization, especially finding a place to store books that had been taken out before the construction and can’t be placed back in the stacks.

To alleviate this problem, she said the staff will probably take over the quiet study room using shelving donated by the Friends of the Library organization. Therefore, library-goers can also use this room to take these same books out again.

Finding a place to store books that are put on hold has been one of the major spacing issues.

O’Brien said this is a major concern because library patrons are so used to doing this easily. She said, last year alone, the Library of the Chathams obtained more than 30,000 items for Chatham residents and sent out more than 26,000 to other libraries.

“We already told the Planning [Board] we will not be able to get into that room to service holds people request during that time that we’re down,” she said. “I would like not to be depriving other people of our holdings, as well as our own public.”

She said she also has scheduling concerns. Although she received a schedule from the contractor earlier, she is especially worried that part of the building will be closed for two weeks with the possibility that the work might not be finished in time.

“I’d like to validate the proposed schedule, which is good on paper,” she said. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to convince them to follow through. My goal is to keep delays down to a minimum.”

O’Brien said she had some concerns about concrete being laid in around where the sprinkler heads and smoke detectors are currently placed, worried that those fixtures might get in the way of the work being done or be damaged.

She said she has asked the respective sprinkler and smoke detector companies to come in to speak with the contractor on how to work through the issue.

“I think the sprinkler people will probably come in and take the sprinkler heads off before the demolition starts and put them back on at the end unless they have a licensed contract,” O’Brien said.