By
Maya Schechter
Arizona Daily Wildcat
$11.3 million project will reshuffle many parts of the library
The UA's $11.3 million Main Library improvement project is scheduled to begin today and will not affect library services, the university libraries dean said.
The library's services will be shifted around to different floors for the next few months to complete the project.
When the renovations are complete in one year, the Main Library will have a remodeled circulation desk and special collections area, a brand-new Library Information Commons and a fifth floor addition, said Carla Stoffle, dean of university libraries and center for creative photography.
"We are really hoping to create a better environment for the students and provide state-of-the-art equipment," Stoffle said.
During the summer, the circulation desk was moved temporarily from the second floor so that the first phase of construction could be completed by January.
The new circulation desk will be returned to its original spot on the second floor when the first phase is complete. It will serve not only as the circulation desk, but also as the information, the media/reserves and current periodicals/newspapers desks, said Barbara Allen, university library program coordinator.
"We are enlarging the desk so that students will not have to go to different places to find what they need; now they will be able to just come to one central place," Allen said.
The library's staff has been trying to compensate for moving the circulation desk downstairs by opening an outdoor book drop, located east of the main entrance and by adding self-checkout machines on the second floor.
"We have been working really hard so we wouldn't have to shut down services," Allen said.
Parking services will be disrupted while construction takes place, but the staff will accommodate students by relocating the parking areas, said Richard L. Martinez, construction project manager with the UA Facilities Design and Construction.
"We want the library to remain a full-service facility," Martinez said.
The meters along the west side of North Cherry Avenue will be removed because the area will be used for construction staging. The meters located south of the library, which will be used for an access roadway for large truck deliveries, will also be removed and the handicapped spaces will be relocated in the adjacent area.
Students will be able to park across the street, on the east side of North Cherry Avenue in the additional parking facilities, Martinez said.
"It is very important for all pedestrians to remain cognizant of the construction activity in and around the Main Library area for safety purposes," Martinez said.
The next stage of the project, enlarging the Special Collections and moving it to the second floor of the library, is scheduled to begin in October.
Requests for special collections then will take 24 to 48 hours to process because some of the materials will be located in a storage room a couple of blocks away from the library until the new section is finished in April.
Once the circulation desk is moved back to the second floor, scheduled to take place in January, construction for the new Library's Information Commons will begin on the first floor.
The commons, which will be connected to the Integrated Learning Center, will have staff from the Center for Computing and Information Technology and the Main Library at a central help and support desk.
"We are bringing together the expertise of many people to help the students," Allen said.
The 12,000-square-foot space will include 250 workstation areas, 50 production capable workstations, access to the Internet through 500 network connection points and a centralized printing and mailing area.
"We think it will be really nice and the students will like it," Stoffle said.
The library staff offices will have to be moved to the fifth floor because the commons will be on the first floor.
The fifth floor will be dedicated entirely to the staff, Allen said.
Stoffle said all the UA libraries are revising their fines policies to give overdue books an extended grace period of 31 days.
"The fines don't necessarily accomplish getting the books back and they annoy the students," Stoffle said.
If the books are not returned beyond the grace period, there will be a $15 billing charge. This policy does not include reserves or media materials.
Each step of the project falls in line with the others and progress depends on the completion of the previous phase.
"The construction is phased with the intent of returning the appropriate levels of the Main Library back to full operation," Martinez said.
