Entries by Kathrin Besier

I was finally able to catch a flight home on Thursday. Unfortunately, my trip began with a two-hour delay, due to a jammed container. But my fear that we would have to deplane again proved to be unfounded and we landed in Frankfurt on Friday morning with only a slight delay.

So I now have returned to my normal library routine. I’ll need some time to sort through all my impressions of the US and am sure that I will be able to apply my experiences there to our plans for new construction at our library. But I’m equally sure that I will draw on my month-long stay in the US for a long time to come.

My visit to Princeton ended last week. I used Friday to take another look at Fine Hall, part of the Lewis Library. The library staff is coping as best they can with water damage caused last December, when the entire library flooded in just 15 minutes’ time. The majority of the books on Level A did not suffer damage, as the water level stayed below the top edge of the lowest shelf. But it was necessary to remove the carpet, and the new one arrived only two weeks ago, at which time users could again access the area. In the interim, the staff took the opportunity to move the shelves wide enough apart to also accommodate wheelchairs.

One level lower, the situation looked much worse, as water had come down through the ceiling. The staff had to examine each book and each microfiche and decide on what was to be de-accessed. One part of the collection, to be restored, has not yet been returned to the shelves. In addition, as a result of damage assessment the university library administration has decided not to reopen this part of the library to users, but to convert it to closed stacks in the future.

This means that in the future the staff must be able to retrieve materials quickly when they are requested. The section of the Digital Map and Geospatial Information Center that students and staff use, above all, in working with maps and which until now has been housed on Level B, will now be moved to Level A in order to remain in operation.

What particularly impressed me was how quickly the library staff rescued the books and, amidst the chaos, moved them several times, always maintaining an overview and taking the opportunity to make and carry through changes. They are still dealing with the water damage and with putting the as yet unusable sections of the library in order, and I wish them the best of luck with this.

At the time I wrote the above, my bag was already packed and I was to fly back to Germany on Saturday. Unfortunately, on Friday it was announced that my flight was canceled due to Hurricane Irene. After spending many hours on the hotline, I was fairly sure that I would be able to fly home on Monday evening. A few hours later, both power and telephone went out due to a flooded junction box, and that morning the streets around the hotel were closed due to flooding. And even though the hurricane, the eye of which reached us mid-day Saturday, brought much less wind and rain than feared, it resulted in cutting off from the world the small group of evacuees and hotel guests who were stranded there. Several of the hotel staff made a valiant effort to provide us with what was available and to pass on to us whatever information was to be had.

Unfortunately, I then found out that my flight reservation had not been changed, despite all the assurances I had been given on Saturday. As I was not reachable by phone, the airline personnel luckily then took things in hand and booked me on the first possible flight, which nevertheless is not until September 1. So I now find myself waiting in a hotel across from the Newark Airport. Even though my time in the U.S. was very interesting, both professionally and personally, and I met many wonderful people, even though each place I visited exerted its own fascination, I will be very glad to return home after a month’s absence, and hope that I indeed will be back in Germany at the end of this week.

The Princeton University campus is the site of a huge construction project at the moment – that of the Firestone Library. Opened in 1948 as Princeton’s main library, it was expanded in 1988 and since then has made spatial adjustments only as the situation called for. The renovation, to be carried out over a ten-year period, will prepare the library for the future. Preparations began in 2010 and the first major stage of construction followed this year. I took the opportunity to view the construction site in the company of several colleagues.

The first sign of renovation in the library’s interior is a provisional wall in the entrance hall, which will come down in a few days and behind which asbestos is being removed. A great deal of asbestos was originally used throughout the library and now is being removed to the greatest extent possible. For this reason, almost every section of the site has provisional walls and is following the appropriate safety measures, which are the source of delays.

On the first leg of the tour, Bobray Bordelon made clear how maze-like the library is, with its three belowground and three aboveground floors, its hidden nooks and crannies, and a somewhat difficult to comprehend organization. One acknowledged aim of the renovation is to change this. The simplification of this organization has already begun: until recently the collections employed two different call-number systems. The Richardson system was used into the 1960s, after which the Library of Congress system was applied. In the interim almost all of the older collections have been switched to the Library of Congress system. Due to the construction work, however, the collections cannot be assembled in one location, but must be relocated, sometimes more than once. The end goal is a transparent alphanumerical organization from top to bottom. And to make the building less bewildering, nooks and crannies will be opened up.

A further goal of the renovation is to make the library more efficient. The heating and cooling system dates from the 1940s and will be brought up to today’s standards. To this end, a heat recovery system will be installed and single-glazed windows replaced. In addition, water and light will be used to better effect. Wiring will be updated to accommodate the large number of computers and power supply connections for laptops and to relieve the many makeshift solutions that have been offered to library users up to this point. All in all, more, better, and more attractive work stations are planned for library users, who have urgently requested them. The best example of the unattractive work stations currently still in use are the carrels located on the subterranean floors of the library and which are not exactly inviting in terms of use. This fall, in order to create more space, especially for library user work stations, roughly 100 staff members of the cataloguing and technical services sections will be moved to a building off-campus.

Altogether, the renovation will lead to a lengthy period of major restrictions for library users and staff. To make work as pleasant as possible for users, the planning stage includes the creation of quiet work areas for students.

It is Peggy Kehrer’s responsibility to keep the flow of information moving, and she was able to make some time for me as well. As an architect, her main task is to mediate between library and construction crew. At the moment she sends weekly mails to inform staff of the latest developments. To keep library users informed, notices are posted everywhere on campus, and news and information posted on the university website and blogged. Nevertheless, of course, library users send many questions and complaints to the staff, who themselves are dealing with the burden of the noise and constant changes brought on by the renovation. This is a difficult time for all involved. I wish for all of them the energy required for the task and hope that in the end each will say that it was worth it.