Welcome back!

If you have not been with us all summer, you came back to a new look in many of the spaces in Babbidge.  The project is still in progress and we are happy to report that most of the public areas are open for the first week back.

Here is where we are:

Levels 2 & 3 Lobbies – have been completed.

Administrative Offices – They will be done this week and the staff located in this area will be moving back in on Tuesday & Wednesday.

Levels 1 & 2 Bathrooms – If they are not as of this post, they will be open today.  The final piece was getting the toilet paper holders on so folks could do their business.

Elevators – Did you see how great the floor looks as opposed to the stained carpeting that was there? The base still needs to be applied but I’m sure you will agree they look great!

What’s next?

Basement Bathrooms – The public bathrooms on Level B will be offline starting next week.  We apologize in advance for the noise disruption that will happen when they demo the rooms, but we expect it to be quick.

Class of 1947 – They will start carpeting that next week and we hope to have it back online for use by the week of the 9th.

Thanks to everyone for their patience.  We hope you have a great weekend!

Only a few more days before the start of school and that means the contractors are putting finishing touches on many of the spaces they have been working on.  Transition strips, securing handrails, and general clean-up are the name of the game.

All lobbies are open to foot traffic as well as all of the classrooms, with the one exception of the Class of 1947 room on the Plaza.

We know that having the lobbies inaccessible is inconvenient, but we hope you will agree that the final product is worth it!

Level 3 Lobby

Work continues on the carpeting in our Administrative Offices over the next two weeks.  If you need to pick up your paycheck or have other business with the office, the receptionist has been moved to just before the Auriemma Reading Room on the Plaza level.  The rest of the staff has been moved around and the reception desk can help you find anyone you need.   The restrooms on Levels 1 & 2 are still not available.  We are awaiting the partitions to be installed and hope to have that ready by early next week.  Please use the restrooms on Levels 3 & 4, or on the Plaza.

What’s next?

Elevators – the flooring on the elevators is being replaced with ceramic tile (yeah!!) and they will work on one elevator at a time over the next week.

B Level Restrooms – they will begin to work on these possibly this week, but by next week for sure.   Again, we are grateful for your patience and work will continue throughout some of the semester, as well as during the winter breaks.

The flooring project is moving along here in the final weeks of the summer.  Here’s where we are at:

Level 3 – is open for business, including all of the study carrels.  There are some odds and ends still to do, including moving back of furniture, but it should not affect the use of the 3rd floor.  Tomorrow they will begin on the Graduate Student Study Center.

Level 1 & Level 2 Bathrooms – should be completed by the middle of next week.

Plaza Level – The staff area behind the iDesk is completed and this week they have been working on the Auriemma Reading Room, the staff lounge and the 24-hour study room.  They should be cleared of those areas later this week.  The Auriemma Reading Room will stay off line for a bit longer, as it will be the space where the administrative office furniture will be stored when that space is done.  That space, and the Class of ’47 are the last pieces to be done on the Plaza Level.

Level 1 – is completed in terms of the bulk of the carpeting.  As on Level 3, there is clean-up and pieces that still need to be done.  We also will be working on getting the furniture back where it belongs next week.  The Q Center is open, and the W Center should be back in operation next week.  The Digital Learning Center and our own help desk are also working to get their space back in working order.

The Homer Babbidge Library will be closed at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, August 14th for electrical work.  We expect to be open as usual on Thursday, August 15th. Our online services should not be affected during this outage.

Here are the latest updates for you regarding our flooring renovations:

Level 3 – unfortunately there are still some study carrels that have not been carpeted and we are awaiting an estimate of when they will be available. 

Level 1 & Level 2 Bathrooms – are currently off line and are being worked on.  The demo should be mostly done and they will be working on the new tiles soon.

Plaza Level – They made record time in this area and are done with the carpeting behind the iDesk.  Staff will be moving back into their offices through the early part of next week.

Level 1 – For those who have been on Level 1, you will see that although it is in a constant state of motion, they are moving along rapidly and that is great news.  The majority of the North side is done and they will continue in a counter-clockwise pattern around the floor.

The Q Center is still able to follow their summer hours, they are just on the South side of the floor.  If you are looking for the Digital Learning Center, Steve Park is temporarily located in the staff area of Level 1.  If you need his assistance, please stop by the help desk on that floor.

If you are anywhere near the 1st floor of the library this morning, you are certainly aware of the next phase of the flooring renovations.

The crew has begun to remove the carpeting on Level 1, starting with the electronic classrooms on the North side of the building.  They are also starting on some of the carpeting leading to those rooms.  Today and tomorrow we expect some loud periods when they use the machine so if you are honestly looking for some quiet, this is not the place to be. The sound is muffled as you climb higher into the building.  We do have earplugs if you wish, just ask any of the service desks.

Traffic patterns on the floor will change, but we will do our best to keep all of the computers and other services on the floor accessible.

Other projects to keep watch on include:

• Levels 1 & 2 Restrooms are closed.  Bathrooms are located on Level B, Plaza, Level 3 and Level 4.
• Level 3 (South Side) – closed through Monday, July 29^th
• Auriemma Reading Room – closed through Wednesday, August 7^th

We are finally able to open up the bathrooms on the 4th floor.  We expect those on the 3rd floor to be ready by the end of the day.

That means that they will start on the 2nd Floor bathrooms today, so those will not be available for the near future.  The men’s room on the 1st floor is also not available.

What do you think?

Before

After

While there has been progress made, the timeline for completion of all of the public flooring changes will no longer be by the end of the summer.  With that said, let’s tell you where we have made progress.

The 4^th floor lobby is open.  There are a few small details left, but if you have been up there I think you will agree it looks great! The addition of ceramic as a boarder around the room makes the space look larger, and the wear and tear on those high traffic areas will be much less as we move forward.

3^rd & 4^th floor bathrooms – The new tile work is almost completed and once the partitions are installed they will be ready for use again.  We hope to have that ready by mid-week next week.

3^rd floor carpeting – The North side is open.  Much of the furniture that can be, has been put back including the serpentine tables (which also received some maintenance improvements as a plus!)  They will be electrified shortly.  They are working on the South side and things are moving along now that they have a good system. They anticipate being done by mid to end of next week.

Bookworms – There is a small section of Bookworms that is missing tile due to some water damaged wood.  It has obviously not affected services but if you noticed it, we hope to have that all set soon.

Plaza Level – Once the crews finish up on the third floor, they will come down to the Plaza Level and work in the space behind the iDesk.  There will be minimal service interruptions during that time, however staff that work back there will be relocated temporarily.  If you need to contact the staff, including the reserve staff, we suggest e-mailing them as the most direction option.  You can also stop at the iDesk and they can give you their temporary locations.

During this time, the Auriemma Reading Room will be closed to patrons. We know this is a popular spot but it will temporarily hold furniture and staff that needed to be moved from the office areas.  We expect it will be closed through August 7th.

Level 1 – The next area they will begin work on is the area around the main staircase on level 1.  This will be orchestrated to allow as much access to the floor during this time.

We thank you so much for your patience through this project!

Wow! A lot has happened since our last post.  We would like to tell you it has been all been good, but when someone likens it to an episode of “This Old House”, you know you are in a bit of trouble.

There are currently three main areas in which work is being done.

Bookworms Cafe. Furniture is being moved in today and the Bookworms staff are working to get things in order.  They have found a need to upgrade their electrical  and re-install some plumbing which they anticipate will be done for a Tuesday opening. WooHoo!  Check out the new floor….

3rd floor carpeting. There has been some delays in getting to the floor, and the same glue that is used to make sure the carpeting sticks, is the same glue that is very difficult to get up.  For both of those reasons we are behind schedule on the floor, and will need to extend the closure of the floor through Monday, June 24^th.  On that Monday it is likely that we will be able open the North section of the floor while they continue to carpet on the South side.  There will still be furniture all around and the serpentine seating will need to be reconnected, but we should be able to allow access to the areas, including the study carrels on the North side.  If you are a carrel user on the South side and need to get to your carrel, please let us know.

3rd & 4th floor bathrooms. Unfortunately the tile project in both bathrooms has been stalled for two unanticipated issues.  One is a discrepancy in the specifications of the tiles selected and a new tile needed to be chosen.  That was done on Thursday so the new tile is now on order.  The second issue that will take some time to resolve is the drainage in the floor. I won’t go into detail but what they have uncovered is that the older drains in the floor will not allow for the waterproofing to be done correctly and as a result they need to do something to mitigate that.  It will likely take some time to figure out how to proceed so there is currently no estimation of when these might be completed.

Thank you for your patience!

The flooring company made great progress last week.

3rd & 4th floor bathrooms – Both have been successfully demo’d and it is expected that they will begin installing the new flooring later this week.

Bookworms – Demolition has taken longer than they expected, due to an incredibly stubborn glue from the last installation.  As a result, they are behind schedule on this piece of the project.  They will need to finish getting the tiles off the floor early this week and we are crossing our fingers that they can stay on track.  However, realistically Bookworms will likely not be open on Monday June 10th.  We will keep you posted on the progress of this.

3rd Floor – The next part of the project is the carpeting on the 3rd floor.  As with much of the work needing to be done, this floor will be tricky.  The intent is to do half of the floor at a time, with the remaining half for storage of the furniture that is currently on the floor. There will be an orchestrated effort to move the furniture as the flooring removal and installation moves along.  Due to the inability for us to know exactly how this will all work, we are closing the 3rd floor to the public starting this Wednesday, June 5th through Friday, June 14th.  If you have materials that need to come from the third floor stacks, please go to the iDesk on the Plaza level and they will assist.

The Roper Center on the 3rd floor will still remain open during this time.

Thanks for your patience!