Beginning Monday, June 6, the second floor of the Princeton Public Library will be closed for renovations. The project, called 2Reimagine, is expected to last six to eight months.
The second floor is closing a few weeks ahead of the construction start date in order to move books offsite to a storage facility, officials said. Library cardholders can borrow the books once they are moved by placing a hold in the library’s catalog.
“During the renovation, our staff is devoted to providing a scaled-down version of our signature second-floor services, including collaboration areas, co-working space, computer access, scanning, printing, and research assistance,” Library Executive Director Brett Bonfield said in an email about the second floor closure. “They will do everything within their considerable power to minimize the disruption.”
The $3 million renovation project was originally slated to begin in April.
The second floor will include a “quiet reading room” where people who don’t want to hear patrons talking on their cell phones or using other technology can work peacefully. It will also include eight co-working rooms for small meetings and tutoring sessions. There will also be a large technology area on the second floor. Community spaces will be created in the center of the room where people can work individually or in groups. The large gathering spaces will not be walled off.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
I find this renovation unnecessary.
It’s just one big computer room. I think the 3 million could have been better spent enhancing local history collections or some other endeavor.
It seems as if it’s a response to loud patrons- what ever happened to noise discipline in a library? Rutgers did the same thing at Alexander, to isolate noisy frat and sorority groups, etc.