Hard at work

What a difference a week makes...

Last week, what was the beginning stages of sheetrocking the offices has progressed to painting them. More glass has been installed with almost all of the Swift side of the building being glassed in. Yesterday, the windows and glass door in the library director's office were being installed, finishing up the glass work on the bookdrop side of the building.

Speaking of bookdrops, the first one has arrived and has been installed. There will be three slots where you may drive up to building and return your materials. There will also be three more walk up slots for you to return your materials. Like in the temporary location, all returns will be turned into a slot before you enter the library. The returns, sorting onto carts and mending of damaged items will all be done in the back of the library, freeing up valuable space up front where you can check out your items and have your questions answered without being interrupted by staff having to deal with the return of library items.

Upstairs, the framing is completed and as soon as the electrical is finished up and passes code, the sheetrock will begin going up there as well. It was a beautiful view with the sun shining in through the windows and the treetops rustling. I can't wait to kick back in a cozy chair by the fireplace and read a good book while sipping my sugar free hazelnut mocha!

In the temporary location, life continues as usual with storytimes, other children's programming, teen activities and of course lots of reading. You may have noticed there are not stacks and stacks of IRS forms to hand out due to the space limitations, but our "always there for you" reference staff will be happy to help you print them off the IRS website or you can print them from home as well - http://www.irs.gov/

Be sure and drive by once a week or so and watch the progress.

One more closer to spring and one day closer to moving "home".

Lisa

Smooth as glass...

Even though the weather has been quite gloomy, things are a bit brighter over on the construction site. Lisa and I were over there on Wednesday taking pictures, and it certainly looks like they are getting things done.

In the old building taping is almost complete. After that, they will start painting the walls. What color will they be? Your guess is as good as ours! We haven't seen the paint colors yet, but since our color scheme is supposed to follow the beautiful colors of the landscape, it should be peaceful and soothing (we hope!). The ceiling grid support wires are being installed as well. All the downstairs offices are ready for painting, and it's a bit surreal looking at the unfinished spaces, and imagining ourselves working over there. After a year and a half spent with nine of us crowded into one very small room, it will feel like we are working in a palace.

In the new part of the building, framing is almost completed. The insulation, however, is finished and we are looking forward to inhabiting a building with good insulation. We have discovered that it is nigh to impossible to type accurately wearing bulky gloves! The electrical and HVAC systems are almost done, and while that's been a bit of a bugger for us, now it is completed and ready to rock. Also this week, the plumbing is being tested. Let me tell you, we consider plumbing extremely important. If I never have to plunge another public restroom it will be entirely too soon! (TMI you think?)

The other bit of news is that the asphalt subcontractor was on site this week doing some cleanup work. The first asphalt pour will follow once the sub grade is dry.

Over here in the temp space, we are getting more and more questions about the new building. When will it be done? What are you doing with all the stuff over here? Are you getting all new material? To answer the most important first, we don't exactly know WHEN we can move in, but we are speculating that it will be sometime this summer. The sooner the better as far as we are concerned, but mid-summer is our best guess. As for the furniture and shelving that we are leaving behind, stay tuned for more info on that. We are not sure what we CAN do with this stuff, but as soon as we know, we will let you know. And no, we are not refinishing this furniture and bringing it back. The chairs will all be new chairs. After 30 plus years with the same furniture, it is time to get some new (clean!) furniture. Trust me -- you will appreciate it! We are not getting rid of our books and DVDs etc... they will all be making the move back to the building. However, we are going to try to have an "Opening Day" collection ready for when we reopen with lots of brand new books and movies and music to choose from. We are all very excited about this, and look forward to reopening with loads of new choices!

Stay warm-

Theresa

Just another brick in the wall...

The library is definitely beginning to take shape on the inside as well as the outside now. The inside is just about all framed in on all three levels. Sheet rocking is continuing, but the majority of that is done as well.

The windows are being installed on the second floor now as well. Or perhaps it's the third? We're still not sure how to classify the floors. We actually seem to have about two and a half floors in the building! We have the original first floor, the original second floor, and a new third floor. However it's not really a full floor above the second floor. The second floor, which only holds the administrative offices, is just 8 steps lower than the new third floor. So it's not really three full floors, but rather two and a half floors! You'll just have to see it when we re-open. It's actually pretty cool, there is a catwalk type thing that bridges the administrative floor and the third floor reading bower.

We are also beginning to work on some of the fine tuning of the building. In the places in the old building, where we attached bookshelves to the brick, we are working on ways to repair the brick where the old supports were attached. We are also trying to figure out how to get the brick in the old conference room cleaned. Some of you might remember that there was an old chalk board attached to the wall in that room. 30 plus years of chalk dust is not easy to clean off of brick! It's quite interesting all the little things that you never really think of when you start a project, we are all learning new things everyday with this building.

Outside, besides the windows and the pre-cast panels, you should start to see some of the metal panels being installed. The asphalt, unfortunately, will not be poured until later this year. The ground is still too wet to do anything, and the asphalt company is shut down for now, so that is something to look forward to in the spring!

Driving by the building is so exciting to all of us right now. You can really see how beautifully the architects have melded the old and the new into one very beautiful and inspiring building. I am very proud of the steps we have taken to make sure this building is as environmentally friendly as possible, and in later blogs I'll go into more detail about that I promise!

Next time you're driving past the building, just imagine it all completed. Full native landscaping surrounding a beautiful new building that glows with warmth and excitement. A building full of ideas, both old and new. A place you can leaf through an old edition of the Villager or download the newest MP3 book. It will all be available at your new Richland Public Library!

Theresa

New Year.... New Building

Happy 2009 to all Richland Public Library customers! Lisa & I took 2 weeks off this holiday season due to various vacations and illness, but we're both back now and looking forward to some new blogging!

On our last visit to the site, it was pretty impressive inside. Drywall is just about complete on the first floor offices and study rooms and on the second floor that houses the administrative offices. The third floor, which will be browsing and fiction, is basically one big room, so almost no drywall is needed in there.

The windows are installed on part of the lower floor, and we are awaiting delivery for the third floor windows. The next exciting outside installation will be some metal panels that should be coming in the next few weeks.

We were thisclose to getting the first pour of the asphalt, but then came the snow and that had to be put on the back burner. However, curbing and lighting in the parking lot are completed, and as soon as things dry out we will begin working on the parking lot.

We have survived the deluge and winds in the temporary space with a minimum of leaks and backups, and are excited to think that in about 7 months or so, we will (hopefully!) be back home where we belong!

Huge Huge Huge thanks to Chervenell and all the wonderful, patient, kind, intelligent, and committed people who are working on this project. We know we are in very good hands with you, and appreciate you to no end!

Theresa

It's a New Year and the countdown is on!

Well, we made it an entire year at the temporary site and nobody has been killed or even maimed - quite an accomplishment since we are quite literally working on top of each other! Now, the countdown is on until we can move back "home". The weather has been nasty and as I was cleaning the snow off my car this morning and wondering "why didn't I take vacation today" it occurred to me that we are two thirds of the way finished with the renovation and expansion project. Yahoo!!

The Chervenell crew, along with Perfection Glass and Apollo, have been working their tails off trying to get the building enclosed. If you have driven past, you will notice that the windows on the main floor are almost completely installed on the Swift side and they are busy starting the install of the windows on the second floor. The new curbing and lighting has been completed in the parking lot and as soon as the weather breaks, the asphalt will be laid.

Inside the building, they are busy finishing up any straggling ductwork and piping. Sheetrock has been hung for of most of the offices and the study rooms, the skylights are also being finished and both elevators are now functioning.

Back at the Lee Blvd location, the library continues to be open even when the schools are closed, Hanford workers are off and the passes are closed! Come in and get your cold-weather reading materials and some movies to watch. Beginning Monday, January 5th, there will be a new checkout time for all videos and most of the DVDs. All new DVDs will still check out for one week, bus the others will now check out for three weeks. Ask at the check out desk for more details.

Happy New Year and only six or seven more months to go before the big move!!

Lisa