Every designer showcase has before and during the transformation pictures in every room. The before pictures are frequently black & white and give the impression that you will see ghosts if the light is just right. We should have taken more before pictures to help everyone understand how much several of the spaces at 110 Roosevelt Avenue have changed.
A prime
example is Circulation, the most easily identified room inside the front door.
It started as a small office with a door to the center hall and a small window
where staff could talk to anyone entering the Rectory. To become an efficient space for a public
library it was necessary to move the door around to the side, enlarge the small
window, and cut a new large window on the hallway. Bits and pieces of the old upstairs and
downstairs circulation desks have been cobbled together to provide workspace
for staff to check books in and out.
The main
hallway is wide enough to house the entire DVD collection. Making two-sided shelving into one-sided
shelving was noisy and dusty. The new
copier is also pictured.
Creating
an ADA compliant bathroom involved eliminating one door, widening one door,
joining back-to-back closets together, removing an old bathtub, and
repositioning two new toilets and
a
basin. The size of the space and
necessary requirements required creativity and careful planning as well as
dealing with plumbing from the early 1960’s.
The final
result, after the bathroom construction, included the extra bonus of a bright
and comfortable newspaper/magazine room.
In several
rooms, fortunately, we only needed to place the shelves and seating. A previous conference room was easily
transformed into space for fiction, romance, mysteries, and assorted tables and
chairs. The Children’s Department
encompasses the back hall for J and YA books, the original dining and sitting
rooms for picture books, non-fiction, easy readers, and the usual puzzles and
fun stuff. Lighting throughout the
building was improved as needed.
Our goal was
to transform an old convent/rectory into a welcoming and user friendly
library. This will be BHPL’s home for
the foreseeable future so please come in and look around. Sorry, we can’t offer lunch in a white tent.
- S. Bakos