more renovation at work

Every Christmas and summer break at work we usually do a little facilities management.  Translation: we move stuff around and try to improve the look and feel of the library.  I think it helps keep things fresh and it also helps make a library more welcoming, which is not always easy in a 1972 building with orange shelving and dirty ceiling tiles (we're working on that in the future too!).  Since the bulk of our audience is 18 year-old students, a visually appealing place that seems comfortable is always important. 

We did a major renovation for us (i.e. a TON of paint and rearranging, but no structural changes) in 2008.  This past Christmas break we worked on the back area of the library.  It's where we house our previous issues of periodicals.  Since so many are available online, the shelving in this area has been shrinking.  This is a before/in progress picture:

Those two shelves coming straight out at you are the back issues.  There used to be four of those and they used to come out twice as far, to give you an idea of how many issues there were 5-10 years ago.  I wanted to take advantage of the fact that there is much less shelving required, so we split up the shelving and put them against the walls around the perimeter.  It also let in more light and made a more "lounge-friendly" space.  Here is the after:

We also still have a lounge of sorts as well as the couches in the middle:

It is not fully done because we are getting a scanning station back there and we would like to get some nice art or decor on the walls now.  We didn't want to do that before we finalized the furniture placement, so we're just making do with what we have on the walls and the existing furniture until summer.

Another change we've made since the big changes was in the main area.  We used to have more reference shelves and less seating:

We took down a lot of reference shelving by condensing the books onto fewer shelves and also moving more into the collection that patrons can check out.  Then we added a couch and some high tables that are wired for laptop plugin with some artwork.

Two summers ago we also got a new front desk.  The old front desk had been there a long time, most likely when the library opened in 1972. It didn't have enough storage and the staff desk that was behind it and separate made students feel very awkward to approach since it was "behind" the front desk.  So here is the previous desk/configuration:

And here is the new one:

The curved profile makes it seem a lot more modern as well as the black countertop instead of all wood.  We also put the staff desk as part of the entire front desk so that it's easy to approach.  I will say that I had NO idea how expensive circulation/front desks were.  This one is modular and less expensive than some, and it was still over $10,000.  However, it has transformed the front space, and everyone loves it!