Enhancements in the New Library

We continue to make small steps to improve the new library. Last week the letters arrived to identify the library and bookstore. They were mounted by Nathan Ramer, Goshen College intern working with Mary Klassen, Director of Communications.

The individual letters are cut from hard plastic foam. I think they look stunning on the cherry panels with the black "reveals" and the textured black floor tiles.

Yes, we do provide a wastebasket and recycling container.

The Old Library Becomes the New Lounge

The professionals from DJ Construction and their subcontractors have been busy turning the old library into the new lounge. So, I take up my camera again and bring you some images of the work in progress.

This is the view down the hall in the old library. The photocopier used to be in the foreground of this shot. You can see the new carpet squares have been laid and are covered with plastic for protection. Carpet has been laid in the three small offices and today they were putting it on the steps going down to the lower level.

There are new fluorescent lights in the ceiling. It's bright! The wall to the right now has a door entering the office where the lift had been that took books downstairs. You can just barely see the handrail of the stairs to the right. The double door that used to go into the workroom by Lois' desk is gone. There is only a solid wall to the double doors.

The circulation window is still there but the counter is gone. The workroom has a wall down the middle to separate the back two offices from the front office. This is the wall that only had studs in the first picture of my last post. The administrative assistant (Eric Saner) and the volunteer coordinator (Sharon Baker) will be in this front office. In the far right of this picture, you can see the new entrance into this office.

The doorway that had gone from the library workroom out to the reading room has now been blocked off. Through the window to the right you can see the entrance into the old library from the hallway. The bathrooms are having some renovations but I'm not sure why there is a bathroom sink in the office.

The old library reading room is still a woodshop and storage area. This construction worker is cutting boards to finish off the new stairwell and lift area out in the north hallway.

In the picture below, he is standing in the area where the lift will go. In the far right of the picture, you can see the door to John Rempel's office and to the left the new wall that separates Brent Graber's office from the stairwell. Erland Waltner has moved to temporary quarters in an individual study room in the new library. Erland's office also has a complete wall now, not just a partition. Students entering the conference room have had to make their way through the construction zone.

I have heard that the project will be completed by December 1. I believe that when I see it!