Parking

Parking at the library has become more of an adventure this week, mostly due to the fact that our parking lots now look like this:

The back parking lot of the library is torn up on Tuesday, August 24.

 As in most construction projects, the ground is the first thing to be torn up.  Parking on the side, front, and back of the library building has been closed for the duration of construction.  City staff were able to secure temporary parking elsewhere: on the far side of 14th Street away from the library building, at City Hall, and at St. James United Methodist Church on Avenue M.  We hope that these three options will allow citizens to continue visiting the library on a regular basis.

We ask that all library visitors enter the building at 14th Street, regardless of where you park.  The back entrance, located by the larger parking lot near the old records building, is now officially a construction zone, and no person may walk through it.  This is for your safety.

Due to the parking situation, the library has implemented a drive-thru service.  Call the library at 936-291-5472, tell us up to two items you'd like to check out (including DVDs or CDs, specific titles only, no subjects or authors), and we will pull the items for you, check them out to your card, and have them ready for pick-up two hours later.  When you drive up to the front door, toot your horn and we will bring your items to you.  You must present either your library card or your driver license to receive your items.

Please call us if you have questions about parking or the drive-thru service.  We hope to make this exciting project as painless as possible!

A view of the side parking lot being torn up Tuesday morning.

Groundbreaking

At 5:00 PM yesterday, the library held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the old records building.  Many Huntsville citizens braved the heat to attend the ceremony, including the mayor and city council, the city manager, members of the feasibility committee, Library Board and Friends members, and a number of others.  Mayor J. Turner and Councilmembers Dalene Zender and Charles Forbus delivered brief remarks before ground was broken.  A brief reception - including refreshments - was held inside the library following the ceremony.

Couldn't make it to the ceremony?  View the program, click on the photo below to view it full-size (courtesy of photographer Matthew Jackson), or read more about the ceremony in the Huntsville Item.  We are now full speed ahead for construction, so make sure to check the library website and the blog frequently for any updates, particularly notices of brief closings or parking interruptions.

Members of the project team, library staff, Friends, Library Board, donors, and feasibility committee break ground at the ceremony.

Interior Design

The interior design has been finalized!  See the images below for the architect's final plan, as well as the artist's rendering of the exterior.  Be sure to click on each image to enlarge it.  To view an even larger image of the interior design which can be magnified, click the following link to download the .pdf file: Interior Design - Final

Architect's final interior design

Artist's rendering of the exterior of the new library building

Books on the Move

If you've been to the library within the past two weeks, you may have noticed that some things seem a bit...out of place.

Since the contractor was chosen, library staff and volunteers have been hard at work moving books away from the east wall in preparation for the beginning of construction.  Groundbreaking is set for August 17 (date may change), and the first thing to go will be that wall.  All the shelves against the wall need to be cleared for that to happen, which means that all children's materials, including young adult, juvenile, easy readers, and picture books, had to be consolidated and moved westward.  Staff utilized empty space nearer the middle of the building and crammed those shelves full of books.

The result?  An entire wall of empty shelves.  The difference is striking!  Remember to check the renovation blog and the library website frequently for notices about construction, including any closings.

The books on the east wall...

...were moved westward.