Tuesday, February 27, 2007

CONSTRUCTION NEWS

At today's Central Construction Team meeting:
1) Staff work schedules during abatement - There is no need to shift library staff schedules. The abatement work, including removal, can be done without any staff impact. The abatement is expected to be done/out by Friday.
2) Temporary walls - The black tarp will remain in place during the construction. The tarp is generally backed by a temporary wall (up to 8 ft.). Signs, posters, etc that are lightweight can be mounted on this tarp. Since this is also a dust barrier, check with Rick Brown if you need to tack through the plastic tarp to the temporary wall behind.
3) Next week, March 5--9, the interior demolition will take place. Besides walls and millwork, ceiling and light fixtures will be demo'd. This work is done with 1 crew so there should not be any greater impact on our parking.
4) Multiple Crews parking - As of Monday, 3/12, ACI will be scheduling multiple crews on site. Parking may be tight. More information on the schedule and its impact will be provided through the Hard Hat Gazette.
5) Electric Work - pre demolition, some electric connections need to be disconnected, within the next several days. This is to be done before 9a.m. and for a short period of time, but if power is out in the morning, it may be construction related. Contact Rick or Carol on cell 936-4782
To Date: Change in opening hour to 11 a.m. Signage in place; telephone messages in place. Welcome desk in place. A press release was sent. If anyone sees any press on our construction - please email and/or send a copy.
Thanks for great cooperation and flexibility.
Carol

Friday, February 23, 2007

What's Happening @ Central

WHAT’S HAPPENING… The Central Library will be under construction for the next 7 to 9 months to expand and renovate the Children’s room. The first phases of the construction will be: 1) the installation of a temporary wall to separate the construction area from public service; 2) the removal of hazardous material in the construction area.

How Will The Work Be Done? The Central Library will generally be open during the renovation process because it involves a limited area that can be isolated from staff and patrons. The construction is scheduled for weekdays from 6 am to 2:30 pm. Beginning, Tues., Feb. 27, the Central Library week day opening hour will be changed to 11 am. This later opening will minimize overlap of noise and dust. Evening and Saturday hours are not expected to be impacted. Once a construction schedule is established, normal hours may return.

When Will This Work Be Done? ACI, Angeles Contractor, Inc, will be staging the parking lot for construction beginning Monday, February 19. Temporary interior walls will be installed from Feb. 20th and are expected to be completed by Monday, Feb. 26. Set up for the abatement of hazardous materials is expected to begin on Tuesday, Feb. 27th. The abatement, inspection and removal should take about 3 days. .

Is the Abatement Process Safe? The renovation project includes removing walls and bathrooms in the former Children’s Room. An analysis for hazardous materials in the construction area identified small amounts of lead in bathroom tiles and asbestos in modular walls. The abatement work is regulated by: OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), CAL/OSHA (California Division of Occupational Safety), and SCAQMD (South Coast Air Quality Management District). A licensed independent inspector will ensure that all regulations are met. Monitoring, inspecting and testing will be done throughout the process.

WHAT ABOUT STAFF….

How Will Staff Be Informed? Questions can be directed to Rick Brown or Carol Stone via email or in person. Do not expect an immediate answer. Do expect questions to be addressed in a Hard Hat Gazette issue or an email update from Carol Stone. The renovation is the major discussion agenda item for the Division Meeting at Central on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at noon.

Where Will Staff Work During This Project? At this time, staff will continue to work at regular work areas, but will be provided an option to work an adjusted work schedule (coming in later) to minimize the overlap of construction and public operation.

What If An Employee Does Not Want To Work During This Process? Because the Library will remain a safe working environment, all staff will be expected to work as scheduled. However, as with earlier projects at Canyon and Central, this facility will be a construction environment. Staff who may be more impacted by noise and dust may request vacation time, leave without pay, or a temporary transfer. Requests should be made to your supervisor.

WHAT ABOUT SERVICE….

How Will I Know What’s Going On?

Besides internal emails and postings, the Library will notify our patrons with a “What’s Happening” Board that will be updated with pictures, schedules, and communications with our users. Banners will be hung outside of Central and signs posted at all facilities with hours. The Central Library’s telephone message will include information on renovation and service hours. The Library’s web page at www.anaheim.net/library will also provide regular information.

How will Public Service Be Impacted?

The major impact on all users will be the temporary loss of morning hours. Until high nuisance work can be scheduled early in the morning, the Central Library will not open until 11am Monday through Friday. Saturday and evening hours are not expected to change.

The downsizing of Adult Services and relocation to the second floor will create a more crowded work space for our adults. However, all collections and resources are expected to be available during open hours. Adult computer classes are being offered at the Haskett Branch Library.

Youth Services will suspend or relocate morning services including StoryTimes and class visits. New locations will be posted and flyers will be available for parents.

HOW CAN I HELP?

The best way to help is with your personal support and positive energy during the renovation. From a favorite quote, “Keep Your Eye on the Prize”, not the problem. We are sharing in this transition to pass on an upgraded Central Library for to other library users. Perhaps, the first response to patron and staff concerns might be: “…..but isn’t it exciting that after 45 years, the Central Library is being improved for a new Century of service.

YA Computers and Adult Usages

There have been some questions about the use of the YA computers by adults. At present, please follow these guidelines:
Up until 3 p.m., consider the YA computers an overflow area.
The greeters and 1st floor staff will be directing adults to the second floor computers, with the possible exception made for adults accompanied by juveniles, wheelchair or physically handicapped patrons, etc.
Once the upstairs room has been filled, then the upstairs staff should notify the Info Desk (who then notify the greeter) that overflow use downstairs is warranted. Any adult patrons allowed to use the YA computers should be messaged that it is only because it is full upstairs and before 3 p.m.
Info Desk staff have access to the upstairs admin console. If they see that later that 3 or more computers are now available, then they should message the greeter that they should direct adults back upstairs again. Likewise, if the staff upstairs monitoring the room sees that there are now multiple computers available again, they should also notify the Info Desk (who notifies the greeter).
Again, patrons should be messaged that the YA computers are an overflow area.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Week of FEBRUARY 12-17

VALENTINE'S DAY EDITION

WE LOVE OUR VOLUNTEERS AND STAFF!!!

A great deal of furniture, collections, shelving and other items has been moving over the past few months all over the library. This would never have been possible without the hard work of our many volunteers and helpful staff members willing to go the extra mile. Thanks in particular to Romina for the extra hours of assistance from the Elders and Sisters, and to Joe for getting our many young volunteers, particularly the large Project SAY contingent. Collections are now in place, with fine-tuning the next step. Whenever there was a need, staff and volunteers stepped in to fill it. APL is AWESOME!

RENOVATION READY TO BEGIN NEXT WEEK

Library representatives met with all parties involved in the renovation on Tuesday, February 13th. The principal players are: Angeles Contractor Inc. - lead contractor; Paul Chelminiak – the Library’s project coordinator from RDK; Richard Aguirre – contract administrator from Anaheim Dept. of Public Works; and Carol, Audrey, Tom, and Rick – Library project liaisons. Construction workers will not fraternize with staff or patrons. All authorized construction personnel will be identified by either their logo clothing or an I.D. badge.

CENTRAL LIBRARY – SERVICE IMPACT DURING RENOVATION

The primary goal of our renovation is to finish as quickly as possible. The second goal is to maintain library services to our patrons. As construction hours will generally be from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., service and construction will overlap. Areas of the collection may sometimes be inaccessible to patrons, staff, or both. Depending on the type of work scheduled, Central library hours of operation will be shifted to an 11:00 a.m. or noon opening as needed. Evening and Saturday hours are not expected to be impacted. As the contract requires only 48 hours advance notice, both patrons and staff can expect inconvenient interruptions to regular services and assignments. Because of the uncertainty of opening hours, morning storytimes at Central will be discontinued until mid-March. The changes to hours or programming will be publicized in the building and through communication channels.

RENOVATION SCHEDULE:

The project schedule is estimated for the next 7-9 months, with a grand re-opening of the new Children's area potentially scheduled for the Fall. Contractor work hours will be from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. generally.

If possible, the most dirty or noisy work will be done prior to 9:00 a.m.

Contractors will provide at least a 48-hour notification for any work that will impact operations for the staff and public, or affect the neighborhood or street traffic.

Regularly scheduled meetings for contractors, library representatives, and design team members will be held weekly in the Central conference room, Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. Staff and patrons will receive updated information after these meetings take place.

RENOVATION – THE SET-UP

This project will get underway this coming Monday, February 19th when the contractor will be fencing a staging area in the Library parking lot just west of City vehicle parking. This area will be blocked off for use by the construction team, including an office trailer, for the duration of the project. A map will be forthcoming.

The contractor will be establishing a work site. This includes connecting to the Library’s power, water, etc. Paths of travel to the work areas will be marked. A temporary wall, separating the construction area from the public area will be installed, perhaps as early as the end of next week.

RENOVATION – THE 1st PHASE

The removal of the hazardous materials in the work area is scheduled to begin Wednesday, February 28th. Very little hazardous material is involved, and the removal is expected to take 5 working days. This will involve noise because tile will be removed from the bathrooms, and the interior wall in the Children’s Room will be demolished. This work is under Federal law, and an independent inspector is in charge of this process. All dust and debris are contained within the removal area. Staff and custodial staff cannot be in the building until 9:00 a.m. on these days. This is not a health issue. This restriction is to provide a path of access for equipment and removal of debris from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Tentatively, the restricted schedule is from Wednesday, February 28th through Tuesday, March 6th. The exact dates/time will be posted when confirmed by the contractor.

RENOVATION – NEXT STEPS

A three-week work schedule will be presented at the 1st project meeting on Tuesday, February 27th. This will identify the type of work that will be happening during March and April. This schedule will be posted as approved.

RENOVATION – STAFF IMPACT

There are only two guarantees for the next 7 to 9 months. First, this will be a period of change and disruption, especially for Central staff. Full and part-time staff may have hours, tasks, and workplace shifted for some of the project period. At this time, any staff members who may be particularly sensitive to dust and noise may request a reassignment through their supervisor. Audrey Lujan will be coordinating the transfer of staff to our branches.

Secondly, all of us – management, staff, and public – are in this together and committed to upgrading the Central Library facility. Similar to the Haskett project, the interim period of disruption is the necessary cost for new space that will provide improved areas of service for many years.

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

Our users will reflect our attitudes. I ask each of you to serve with a positive message and a smile, even when the public is negative and frowning. Agree that there are interruptions and service limitations at Central, suggest that patrons take advantage of our other branches, and remind our users and ourselves, daily, that this is an interim period and, by Fall 2007, Central Library will have wonderful new space (and 2 large windows) for our users. Months of “ugh” will result in years of “ahh!”

Thanks for you service and support,

Carol


Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Construction News

It is official and actual!!!!! Construction for the renovation of Central Library’s children’s area and installation of exterior windows will begin within the next several weeks. On February 13, Library Administration will attend a pre construction meeting to begin to plan the project implementation with the contractor, architect, project manager, and contract administrator. My role, in this process, is to make sure the concerns of public and staff are addressed during this exciting but challenging period. To be most effective, I rely on all Central staff to help me identify the questions and topics that need to be discussed to minimize the impact on our operations.

Overall, the renovation will impact Central staff and users for the next 9 to 12 months. The entire renovation plan has been made with the goal of maintaining operations during construction, but realistically this work will impact library hours, access to library resources, and the environment of the Central library during this project. The major turmoil of this project is expected at the beginning – of course. In order to provide public service during construction, the contractor has to build a barrier wall between the construction zone and the public service areas on the 1st floor. Until this barrier is in place, there may be closures required for public service and limited access to the Central library for staff. Once the barrier is in place, the next work will be asbestos abatement. A sealed and air tight environment must be in place for the abatement process. Although unlikely, you may see construction personnel beginning the week of February 19. As always, the information is “du jour” which means it could change daily, so please check your email and bulletin boards for updates during this process.

To kick off our planning for construction, I am asking you to participate in discussion with your supervisor and colleagues about:
1) Staff schedules and assignments - Construction hours may be 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The optimal goal is to have the loud and dirty work finished before noon. Although total work hours are not planned to be impacted, there may be periods when staff schedules will need to be adjusted or alternate work assignments made because of the construction. Plans need to be developed of where/when individual staff may work if areas of Central or the entire facility are closed to public and to staff or unusable due to noise/equipment. As with other construction projects, staff may have the option of vacation time and/or flexible schedules.
2) Public hours of service - Depending on noise and access, the Central Library may not open until noon or later during days/weeks of construction. Some of our most important work will be the development of patron notification and shifting of resources to other facilities during this period.
3) Impact on public service - How will the relocation of children and adult service desks and collections impact our operations? What accommodations will need to be made for circulation of items during closure, loss of children's restrooms, loss of parking space, etc?

The more questions asked now, the better our planning. Don’t expect answers at this point, but information will be shared when confirmed. Please read the emails and Hard Had Gazette, not rely on word of mouth.

This construction will create a disruption in our work lives. The next year will include major changes, not all positive. However, this interim irritation is a necessary part of the long overdue renovation of our major library facility. Personally, I have been working toward the upgrade of Central since 1998 and I am excited and pleased that the City has committed millions of dollars to this project so Anaheim has a more modern and efficient building.
Thank you for your support and input throughout the months of construction. I suggest that our Central motto become “flexible” since all of us will be responding daily to the unexpected. And of course, remember that the outcome, a more welcoming and efficient Central Library, is worthy of our