Temporary fix


Now that the old library has finally closed, the library staff is faced with the daunting task of moving all 185,000 volumes from one building to the other, while students learn to use the new Library Court in Exile, located in Arts &Sciences 2-56.
Regan Brumagen, an electronic services librarian, has worked at Georgia College & State University for the past year. Now she works her share of shifts in the Library Court in Exile and said she’s seeing more students than she expected.
“We are in a place that is more central to the students, so we actually are seeing quite a few students drop in that maybe wouldn’t have made it over in the construction mess,” she said.
Over all, Brumagen said students and faculty are quite frustrated, but understandably so. She said it’s going to take some extra organization on the student’s behalf to work through the current situation.
“I’ve heard students talking about how difficult writing their research papers is going to be, but I think what it’s going to take is more advanced planning from students,” she said. “It’s not going to be easy to do research two days before, because you’ll want to take advantage of services like interlibrary loan to get things that are currently unavailable.”
As mentioned there are a number of things students can do for research in the meantime, including interlibrary loan and Georgia Interlibrary Loan Express.
GIL Express is a new system that allows faculty and students access to all circulating material at all University System of Georgia libraries; however,it is currently in a testing phase, so functionality is limited. Luckily, students and professors can still access every book in our library. The process is longer, but it may be worth it.
“Until they take the books off the shelves, we are paging books from the collection,” Brumagen said. “Students can search the catalog and can check out all the books they need for the semester. They just fill out a form, we’ll get the books, and they can pick them up here.”
Brumagen wasn’t sure of the library’s opening date, but said it’s a hot topic among students who visit the make-shift library.
“That’s our number one question and I wish we could answer it. I’ve actually had a lot of very supportive faculty and students come in and I think they understand that there are a lot of things that are beyond our control, but I think right now it’s up in the air because there is more work to be done” she said.
More work is right, according to Lorene Flanders, interim university librarian.
“They are completing the installation of the shelving right now and they’re doing lots of paint touch ups. They’ve still got miles of baseboard to put in. They’re putting in cabinet work and shelving in offices, so it’s just lots of details that have to be finished before we open.”
Still sticking to the moving target date provided at the end of last semester, Flanders said students should understand that some parts of construction are unpredictable. Unofficially, she hopes to see the new building open by spring break. Before that happens, library staff must move every volume from one building to the other in a mission called “the great move sideways.” Judging by the current condition of the old building, it may be a while.
Walking into the old library is like being in an alternate universe. Everything seems to be the same, but somehow so different. All the computers are packed up and grouped — CPUs on one row of tables and monitors on another. For the most part, the books are still on the shelves, some are packed on orange Rent-a-Crate rolling units that sit scattered in the library’s main area.
The second floor is completely intact.
A small hallway connects the new building with the old, but the transition is remarkable. The new building resembles the Arts & Sciences building, however everything is newer and brighter.
In the main part of the third level, the walls are brick, matching the outside, and the floors are covered by an oval design carpet. The overall design scheme is very organic — packed with rounded edges and interesting geometry. The ceiling tiles are not yet in place.
Small rooms line the inner walls. Eventually they will house GC&SU’s Special Collection; however, before the old building is renovated during construction Phase II, the rooms will serve as offices.
The second level is much of the same, but the small rooms inside will be study areas for students in groups of four to six. There are no light switches in the rooms; instead, the lights are motion activated.
Facing the back of Lanier Hall, the front of the library is an open atrium that will house a full service coffee shop, complete with an in-house bakery. The area will be a casual gathering place where students can meet for an informal study session, or just a cup of cappuccino.
The space inside the library is incomparable to that in the old library. According to Flanders, GC&SU currently has 185,000 volumes available. The new library will hold over 400,000.
Three years after the project began, the GC&SU library staff is finally seeing everything fall into place. Though numerous problems have delayed the project, Flanders says the wait will be worth it.
“You’re going to have to go through some tough times to get to the good times ahead,” she said. “There are a lot of construction issues that you can’t identify until you start the project. It’s a situation where a lot of people are working toward a common goal and we all have to be patient.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 16 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry