Like everyone else at the library I’m excited by the upcoming renovation of the second floor. The floor was recently closed and construction will begin shortly. The rest of the library will remain open as much as possible during the renovation and we have put a lot of thought into how to incorporate many of our second floor services and collections onto the first floor. Our goal is to give you the excellent service you expect.
The best place to check for up-to-date information on the renovation is on the 2Reimagine page. While there is quite a bit of information on changes we have made to the first floor there, I wanted to give more detail in this post about some of the collections that have moved and will be moving again after the renovation is complete.
If you ever need any help locating anything on the first floor please ask us at our Welcome Desk. You can also refer to the map of the floor that is available at our service desks, on the 2Reimagine page under Services and as a downloadable PDF. The PDF is a much larger image of the thumbnail image below:
While most of the second floor collections are now in storage we managed to move a few of them downstairs. The World Languages Collection is now on the former Paperback book shelves. Fiction paperbacks have moved to shelves near our photocopier– convenient to grab and go. We also added two sets of shelves by the fireplace for the World Languages collection. Books in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian are shelved in the units next to the columns while Chinese, Japanese, and Korean titles are shelved in the units near the fireplace. Please note that this will be the home for the World Languages Collection even after the second floor is reopened.
We wanted to keep our magazines and newspapers available during the renovation so we added two magazine racks to the area just behind the Welcome Desk. The magazines and newspapers will have their own room on the renovated second floor, so this is just a temporary location.
The ever-popular Travel collection was moved from the second floor to the shelves just after the end of Fiction near the Quiet Study Room on the first floor. This collection will also move back to a prominent area on the second floor as part of the renovation.
Shelves have been added to the Quiet Study Room, and the Performing Arts collection that was in that room has been moved to storage. The shelves in the Quiet Study Room are now being used to house nonfiction second floor books that are checked out and returned to the library. This collection is organized alphabetically by the names of our nonfiction Neighborhoods. These books will eventually be housed again on the (renovated) second floor and the Performing Arts collection will move back into the Quiet Study Room after the renovation is complete. Feel free to browse the rotating selection of recently returned non-fiction now shelved in the first floor Quiet Study Room.
I know this is all a bit confusing but our goal has been to keep as many of the collections available as we can during the time the second floor is closed. Remember, you can request any book that we have in storage. We will get it within one to three business days, send you the usual pickup notification and hold it for you at Lending Services or send it out via Library by Mail. Log in to your PPL account and place a hold on any title that is “unavailable” because it is “in storage.” Please feel free to ask us about how to do this. We hope to see you at the library.