Carpet

Although we have only been open in our new/temporary building for twenty-four days, we are already beginning to plan for our return to Lamar Street (my prediction is we will be back before Christmas - please keep in mind this is only a prediction). Today we came to a decision about the carpet we will have when we return. It is called Aurora and it must have every color known to man. The big problem we had was matching the color of the carpet with the end panels of the book shelves. There seemed to always be one color we could not match. Well, endeavor to persevere. We met with a representative from Shiver Lumber Company (Shiver has been contracted by Warren Scott - the company renovating the Lake Blackshear Library). We had spent many days trying to decide what carpet to get. We just couldn't come to a decision. It took less than five minutes with the Shiver representative for us to have our carpet. It's amazing what expertise can do for you. So, we began the day in celebration!

I've noticed the windows are now gone from the Lamar Street site. Workers have been on the roof. Of course if anyone has driven by and looked it is easy to see the fence around the site. I have many photos of the empty building I am including in this blog. The photos are perhaps the only ones we will ever see of the library like it is now. Back in 1994, when the second level was built, there are a few photos floating about - but only a few. Hopefully we will not have to renovate again for a long while.


Empty Lake Blackshear








The magazine newspaper corner



The front windows looking at Lamar


The public computers area



The computer sign-up desk area


The front desk area


The front desk area again


The carpet coming up

No carpet at front desk


The children's library with no carpet


The actual "command central' during the move. This table was in the workroom at Lake Blackshear. Our only phone was here. Sitting at the desk is former director Jane Hendrix, who was a very important advisor during the move. In 1994, Jane moved the entire library with staff and prisoner labor only!


Our children's coordinator Beth Tanner's office at Lake Blackshear


Beams for support before demolition



More beams - this is the magazine newspaper corner


The front walkway at LB


The front door area


The children's library at LB

More pictures will follow as things begin to come down and go up at Lake Blackshear.

Stay tuned...

Getting In The Groove

Things have begun to settle down. We are all gettting back into the groove of what we do. The PINES system is beginning to be mastered by most folks. We are actually running two systems - our old one, which we use to check in books that may have been out in that system and the new PINES system. After a while we will be able to totally turn off the old system and just use PINES. That will be a big day!

The play/theater event was a great success. We did not know how well it would be attended because we were in a new place. All three nights were well attended. We had to bring out extra chairs for both the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon performances. The dinner went great Saturday night. We were fortunate to have some great high school students help with serving - what a great job they did! All seemed to be wonderful people. The play itself, "A Mullet Family Reunion" was a smash. Never before have there been so many mullets on one stage!!

Our attention will now turn to the Lake Blackshear building. We have noticed that some of the landscaping has been removed. Tire marks have appeared on the front lawn. Beams can be seen inside the main lobby. So far, things have moved very quickly - something that has given us hope for a quick return. We have been assured things will begin to slow down as the actual construction will soon begin. The construction will be done in two phases. That entire front wall of the library must come down and then be replaced. The construction will move around the sides of the building going back about 20-30 feet. Everything will be restored just as it was the morning of 1 March 2007. We will be able to paint and carpet the building. We are presently performing the arduous task of choosing a carpet. Generally, there are three of us who will make this decision - the Director, the Assistant Director and the Administrative Assistant. It is really interesting how people's tastes are different regarding carpet. Whatever the carpet winds up being, it will be nice and give the library a small, different look.

The next blog will be early next week - hopefully Monday. We have alot of pictures from the empty lake Blackshear building that we will put up. As the construction goes along we will have many photos for you.

Once again, this blog will be continued.