By T. Scott Boatright
Talking about how impending renovations will affect the Lincoln Parish Library was the main order of business as the LPL Board of Control held its July meeting inside the George Byrnside Conference Room on Thursday evening.
A bid meeting will be held on Aug. 26 before bids for the renovations are opened on Sept. 3.
The planned $500,000 renovation project will be the first such work for the library since it opened at its current location in 2004. The renovation project will be done in four phases that will include new flooring, all-new paint and all-new LED lighting.
Phase 1 includes adding new flooring and painting the main part of the library and will take four weeks. Phase 2 will be work on the Children’s Section and Chautauqua Gallery and will take around four weeks to complete. Phase 3 will take a couple of weeks to complete but will keep the same flooring, and Phase 4 will involve renovating the foyer and restrooms. The LPL will have to close during that time.
LPL Board Chair Bill Jones said the contractor submitting the winning bid will handle moving furniture.
“What we have to do with the contractor is identify specifically what they are expected to move with the books on it,” Jones said. “They’ll hire someone to do that, but the contractor is going to be responsible for it. (LPL Director) Jeremy (Bolom) has been working on this so that we can identify it. Now we know the only thing that is capable of being moved with the books on it is the main shelving.
“Jeremy’s going to go to the architect’s office and mark on the plans those shelves. That will settle all the questions about that. However, the bad news is on the teen stuff, you can’t move those shelves. The same with the genealogy section.”
Bolom said that anything with low wooden shelving will have to have the books unloaded.
“Everything is going to have to be moved to one side during each phase,” Jones said. “Once that flooring is done, everything comes back to the other side to do the other half of the flooring. Through each phase, everything in that phase area will have to be moved. The contractor is going to move the furniture. But (library staff) is going to have to move the books. The books need to be moved in specific order by library staff so that those books can be put back in the correct order.”
Lincoln Parish Administrator Courtney Hall suggested asking parish litter patrol workers to move boxes of books once they’ve been packed and marked by library staff.
The new flooring will have to set for three days before shelves are moved onto it and the books are reshelved.
Jones said a three-day pause has been added to each phase to allow the flooring to set.
He also warned that it likely won’t be an easy time for the library.
“The library operations will be compromised from Nov. 2 until Feb. 16,” Jones said. “The library’s capabilities will rise and fall during the construction project. It will morph depending on what phase we’re in.
“When we’re through with this project, it’s really going to look good. And it’s funny to think of flooring being flexible, but we need that because over the next 10 years our programming and services are going to change. And we’ll be able to do that and still have a really attractive facility. I’m excited about it.”
Bolom said that plans are being developed so that library services will be maintained, although those services might not be what patrons are used to receiving at the LPL.
“We’ll keep patrons informed, and they’re just going to have to be patient with us, just like the staff will also have to learn patience,” Bolom said.
