Renovations in the Old Library

Renovations continue in the old library. In this shot of the old library workroom, note where the sink, counter and cabinets were removed on the left side. The framing is up for the wall that will separate Sharon Baker and Eric Saners' area in the foreground from the other Church Leadership Center offices in the rear. The booklift has been removed from the back corner.

Down the hallway, the bulletin boards where the catalog search computers used to be are visible on the right. Moriah Hurst's display for the April Sustainable Living Tour is still there. Brent Graber is on the ladder installing network cable.

The new single door goes into the rear office. The former double door into the old library workroom is being framed for a wall. To the right notice the new bulletin board outside Janeen Bertsche Johnson's office and a bit of the railing for the steps down to the lower level. Other than getting to Janeen's office through the new building, we are asked not to go through the construction zone.

The carpet has all been removed from this entire area along with the tile floor that was below the carpet. The library reading room provides storage for the project.

The framing in this corner of the reading room is in preparation for the cabinetry that will be installed here. This "kitchen" area will have a refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker. Snack and cold drink dispensers will also be available.

Studying in the New AMBS Library

Since classes began in early September, students have raved about the openness, light and welcoming feel of the new library. Faculty also make their way to the library to spread out on the large tables and enjoy the expansive views. Daniel Schipani and Devon Miller are studying in the north reading area.

By mid-September the study carrel wiring was completed and we had keys to the cabinets. Each carrel has outlets for power and data connections as well as a study lamp under the book shelf. A key for the cabinet is available for a $20 deposit.

Students who had made requests selected their preferred location. Carrels on the north side have indirect light and an expansive view of the prairie grass germinating on the former construction site. Carrels on the south side have views of the rain gardens and direct sunlight to combat the northern Indiana winter blues. To avoid eyestrai, Grace Mishler selected a carrel with limited daylight.

The Conference Room is Back!

The Conference Room was used for library books during the period of construction. By mid-August the black metal shelving was taken out, some by a public library and the rest of it by AMBS employees for personal use in garages and home libraries.

The room is now arranged for classes that emphasize small group discussion. These tables came from the small rooms in the Lambright Center. Those rooms now have large rectangular tables which actually fit the space better. Notice the new energy efficient air conditioning unit in the north wall.

The new stairs from the hallway to the Conference Room are not yet finished but John Rempel still welcomes visitors to his office. The carpet removed from the landing now reveals bright red floor tile! Soon a lift will be installed in the area to John's left which will make the Conference Room handicap accessible.

Renovations in the Old Library

The electricians have begun deconstruction and rewiring in the old library workroom. The ceiling has been removed in Brent Koehn's former work area and temporary lights have been installed. Some of the wall by the old book dumbwaiter has been torn out. The dumbwaiter will be completely removed to open up more space in that area.

The constructions workers can't go any further until all AMBS stuff is out of the library. So, the push is on to remove the last pieces of shelving from the old reading room. On the right you can see the lift that will soon provide access to the Conference Room and upper office suite.

The biggest job remaining is my office. There are two problems. First, the furniture in my new office cannot be finally assembled until some missing parts arrive. Second, I have been in my current office over twenty years and I cannot move without major weeding. I have 13 file drawers jammed in that office and I need to reduce to no more than four lateral file drawers. I welcome the opportunity to clean out but it takes time since old files bring back so many memories. I definitely want to move tomorrow even if it means working off a cart in the space outside my office!

Library Open for the Fall Semester

It's been a busy two weeks since the party in the library. In that last week, the maintenance staff installed lamps on the tables and connected the power and data to the floor boxes. Construction trash was removed and final clean-up completed. Toilet paper units and soap dispensers arrived for the bathrooms. We got a cart to receive books left in the book drop by the front entrance. I have a long list of unfinished tasks but I won't bore you!

The fall semester began last week with two days of orientation and the start of classes on Thursday, September 6. Students and faculty are thrilled with the new library and are coming in droves to study here. We have lots of visitors who want to tour the facility. On Tuesday the local Central District Conference pastors met here and I showed them through the library.

Today I was finally able to take some pictures again. This is the computer lab area with adjacent study tables.

Party On!!!

What??? A party in the library?

When threatening thunderstorms forced a cancellation of the faculty/staff/family river boat cruise, creative minds suggested that the dinner in the Lambright Center be followed by a party in the new library. Spouses and kids got to explore the new space with a scavenger hunt devised by Nelson Kraybill. Eric Saner provided great background music with selections on his iPod.

Library study tables are great for board games since the study lamps have not yet been mounted. There were at least two games of Dutch Blitz, one of Blokus and another of Apples to Apples. At least one person could not resist long hidden library resources. Loren Johns preferred New Testament Abstracts to Dutch Blitz.

Vacating the Old; Entering the New

The old Conference Room is empty now. Ted Koontz took the last sections of steel shelving including the two frames still in this photo.

While I was in Kansas, Lois Longenecker and Craig Neufeld almost emptied the old library workroom. Brent Koehn's work area is still in the back. His new worktable will be ready by the middle of next week so hopefully he can move in at the end of the week.

Lois and Craig are settling in to the new library. This is the student work area. The service desk is through the windows to the left. This long counter has built in shelves at each end for books in progress. There is just enough space at the bottom for the carts to fit inside the shelf. The workroom is so spacious that we will not have to move carts out of the way to get around the furniture. Hooray!

Sharon Baker, AMBS volunteer, is prepared to serve YOU at the service desk. Oops! What's that stack of books to the left? We're going to have to keep up with the shelving to avoid unsightly piles of books visible above the beautiful service desk. Notice the slot in the service desk to the lower left? This is the book drop. Books slide into at receiving area behind the desk so they don't clutter up the space on the desk. Such efficiency!

Construction Begins on Lift to Conference Room

It's been almost two weeks since my last post. My son Mark's wedding was in Newton, Kansas last week took my attention away from library moving. I've been back since Tuesday but the press of getting ready for the fall semester has kept me from blogging.

So, can you guess what this photo is? It is a picture from the north corridor of Waltner Hall. The old stairwell to the Conference Room has been torn out. You are looking from the hallway down into the back periodical stacks right about where the Mennonite Quarterly Review used to be shelved.

Bob Yoder and his assistant from DJ Construction have prepared the base for the new stairway that will go up to the Conference Room. The top of the stairs will be a landing from which you can enter the office of Brent Graber, John Rempel or Erland Waltner or you can go directly into the Conference Room. This landing area used to be the office of Barb Nelson Gingerich, Assistant to the Institute of Mennonite Studies. Barb's new office in the south wing was formerly the old bookstore sales room.

A lift will be installed in north hallway just to the right of the new stairs. This will provide access to the Conference Room and offices for people who cannot manage the stairs. The work will not be completed for the fall semester so classes have not been scheduled to meet in the Conference Room.

This is a view down the corridor from the old library entrance. The construction workers have stacked lumber in the hallway. Not the map of the world on the wall to the right.

Site Work and Landscaping

A couple weeks ago, workers from the the landscaping subcontrator, Lovisa and Barone, began preparing the site for planting. Trees and shrubs went in the ground just in time for several good soaking rains. Reddish shrubs will screen the electrical equipment from view in this courtyard north of the bookstore.

We are looking out at a lot of mud and weeds right now with pools of of water to support the mosquito population. Seeds and plugs will be started in September when the sun is a bit lower in the sky and there is a better chance of regular gentle rains.

The site of the new building has been graded to channel the stormwater off the roof away from the building and into raingardens where it will seep into the soil. Raingardens will be established in between the wings of the building using native plants that have deep root systems for absorbing and cleansing the rain water. In heavy downpours, water that cannot be absorbed by the rain gardens will be directed north to the large area near the seminary drive where prairie grass will be planted. We have had several heavy rains in the past couple weeks so we can see that the grading is working as planned.

It will take a couple years for the plants to become established in the raingardens and the prairie restoration areas both north of the building and over the geothermal well field. During this time, we will be looking at scraggly seedlings and bare ground. Weeds will be managed by mowing before seeds develop.

The AMBS maintenance staff is prepared for the challenge of nurturing the native plants and prairie. JF New, a local firm that specializes in restorative landscaping, will provide services and advice during these first growing seasons as the plants become established. Don Yoder, retired landscape designer, is a valued volunteer who has worked on other prairie restoration projects in southern Michigan.

Students Find Preferred Seating

It's one thing to arrange tables and chairs on a flat sheet of paper in the design process. Over a year ago, we tried to predict where people would want to study and their preferences for study furniture. This week the furniture arrived and now we will see where people choose to sit.

The plan called for soft chairs at all the big windows in the north reading area. However, on the two sides of the room, we decided to put study tables instead of soft chairs. Today, those tables were the first ones chosen for sustained study by visiting scholar, Josh Yoder and AMBS student, Christina Litwiller.

The new photocopier was supposed to arrive today but it didn't. We expected the periodical display shelving to be completed today but the technician didn't show up. Somethings will have to wait for next week.

However, I did catch Bob Yoder, site supervisor for DJ Construction, in action. Bob has been here almost every day since ground breaking on April 17, 2006. Now he is finishing up the details of the project which today meant installing the walk-off mat in the entryway. Bob's partner today was Christopher Payne.

Bob will stay at AMBS for the renovations in Waltner Hall. DJ Construction took away Bob's trailer office out on the construction site. His new office/shop / scrap pile is in the library reading room. Next week he will direct the installation of the lift just off the hallway in the north wing of Waltner Hall. This lift will make the Conference Room handicap accessible.

Volunteers Complete Half of Shelf-Reading

For the past two weeks, we have had volunteers working to prepare the library for operation. They have moved shelving units and books. They have cleaned shelves and prepared lunches. Best of all, they have begun the huge task of taking inventory in the circulating book collection. Each card in our holdings catalog must be compared to the shelf to confirm that every book is accounted for and in the right place.

Vernard Ginguerich, retired Elkhart County pastor, has completed two weeks of shelf reading, the library term for inventory. On Monday, former AMBS Board member Bob Carlson and his wife Phyllis from the Kansas City area began work in the stacks. AMBS alumni parents Ed and Hedy Rempel from Chatham, Ontario joined the crew for the week. Rhoda Schrag, local pastor and teacher, enjoyed the detail-oriented work of shelf reading and also prepared fabulous lunches for the team using fresh local fruits and vegetables.

Willis Sutter, a retired dentist from Illinois, has taken on the tedious task of putting security strips in the circulating book collection. Lorna McDougall, AMBS faculty spouse, prepared delicious lunches every Monday. Sharon Baker, AMBS volunteer coordinator provided support with morning snacks and other logistics.

We expect a small group of volunteers next week. Please contact me if you would like to join the group even if it is just for one day.

Furniture Arrives

Last week the library tables arrived in two shipments, some on Wednesday and the remainder on Friday. Then today the upholstered chairs arrived from Sauder Woodworking. In the foreground of this picture you can see two of the study tables. They are solid cherry with a durable linoleum work surface. This is the same linoleum that is on the floor in the back hallways. We purchased the popular three-position study chairs for use at the tables. The are visible in the foreground. The wood frames match the cherry tables. This photo was taken in the central reading area adjacent to the reference collection. Two of these six lounge chairs will eventually be placed closer to the entrance in the current periodicals reading area.

The gallery/commons area has two loveseats back-to-back and six chairs arranged to form two conversation areas by the large window. In this area you can see across the courtyard to the Conference Room.

The bookstore has two chairs for customer comfort and that "Barnes and Noble" atmosphere. You can even buy coffee, fair trade, that is.

As if this was not enough excitement, we also welcomed Virgil Kilpin and crew who brought the new periodical display shelving. They are now erecting the shelving just inside the entrance to the library. Every current title will have a space on a slanted display shelf. Earlier issues from the current year are stored under the hinged shelf. There will be two rows of display shelving in front of the back periodicals and also three sections of wall shelving in the corner for the Peace Periodicals Collection.