Professor Miriam Deutch has done a superb job of developing a cleaning and maintenance plan for the new Library, working closely with Facilities staff and project manager Marla Appelbaum. The team created an inventory of the types and variety of spaces in the building, surfaces and finishes, and associated maintenance routines.
Mac Tillman, the custodial supervisor assigned to the new building, is excellent and a pleasure to work with. Administrative Superintendent Michael Golan has been simply wonderful to us: he cares deeply about helping maintain the building in good and clean condition. Presently there are only seven full-time and two part-time custodians assigned to the Library–clearly, this is not an adequate staff for a very large, labor-intensive building open 70 hours each week. It is our hope that additional staff will be added (especially with the imminent move of ITS to its space on the fourth floor), or else our beautiful new building and furniture will be ruined.
In a related issue, Library staff spent a great deal of time crafting food and drink policies (for readers as well as Library and Academic IT staff). Jane Cramer created signs, and Suzie Samuel designed a bookmark that carries our various regulations (food, drink, feet off the furniture, cell phones, personal audio, etc). Unfortunately, our opening-day policy was probably one of the shortest lived in Library history. By the end of September, it was clear that the policy was far too liberal: nasty stains were appearing on carpets, upholstery, and woodwork. Facilities supervisor Michael Golan, whose staff are responsible for the cleanliness of the new building, begged us to tighten up, and we did. On September 23, after consulting with the Library management team, chief librarian Barbra Higginbotham sent this message to the staff:
It has already become clear that the Library's drink policy for readers is too liberal: spills on carpets and water rings on beautiful wood furniture attest to this.1) This means, effective immediately, that readers cannot bring into the Library paper cups of any type, whether Sugar Bowl-type coffee cups, Starbucks-type coffee cups, paper cups in which cold drinks are served, or soda cans. If experience shows that stains resulting from spills continue, we will have to ban all drinks except water.
For this reason, effective immediately drinks brought into the building by readers will be limited to those contained in:a) spill-resistant mugs (perhaps "travel mugs" is the more common term) made from hard materials (plastic; metal)
b) screw-top bottles
2) Staff may continue to bring in drinks in paper coffee cups, paper soft drink cups, and soda cans, but these have to be concealed. This means they must be placed in something other than a brown paper bag, or bags bearing the names and logos of convenience food chains.
* It is too difficult for the security officers at the desk to differentiate between staff and readers, when people are clearly carrying food. And, we cannot afford arguments or protracted discussions between staff and security officers at the Library entrance.3) We have a few "Library to Go" thermal/travel mugs and a few BC Library bags still in stock. If you would like to have one or both to use when bringing food and drink into the Library, please speak to your supervisor, and you may have either or both items, as long as the supplies last.
* Paper bags leak: people carrying drinks in them often drip liquid across the Library's floors, before reaching their destinations.
* We need to do everything possible to encourage security officers to stop food and inappropriate drinks at the entrance.
* Staff must set a good example for readers.
4) Supervisors, please discuss the new reader drink policy with your staff, and be sure they understand how this policy affects food and drink they bring into the building.
5) There is a great deal of glass in the new Library, and I would appreciate your also reminding staff not to eat and drink in office areas clearly visible to readers.
6) When you see readers violating the Library's food and drink policy, please help keep the new building beautiful by speaking to them.
We are all in the process of learning how to live in the new building, and I appreciate your cooperation very much.
Security in the New Library
The Library has a detailed response plan for fire alarms, and a fire marshal for every floor in the building. On December 4, trainers from the New York City Fire Department provided on-site training for every Library fire marshal. At the time, we had no idea how valuable this training would be: throughout the spring we have been plagued by phantom fire alarms (well, the alarms themselves have been real enough; luckily, however, the causes have proven to be phantom).
Professor Deutch also worked with Safety and Security to refine the security plan for our enormous new space, and with the Library's College Relations Committee to complete the mammoth process of reviewing and updating all Library and Academic IT access policies, including those for space, collections, and equipment. Deputy Director for Campus and Community Safety Services Ursula Chase has been absolutely fabulous, providing training for staff in handling difficult situations, giving us the security officers we need, and so forth.
The new security plan includes these provisions:
A second officer for the loading dock
Periodic patrolling of the building by Security staff
Security cameras and consoles
Additional security devices such as mirrors
Disaster preparedness training for Security staff
General training and orientation for Security staff
Zoning for the magnetic door locks
Floods and leaks have been recurring problems in the new building. In some cases, water has entered the building from the outside during rain storms (the spring of 2003 has been unusually wet): we are now well-stocked with buckets. At other times, the sophisticated new HVAC systems have gone haywire and doused the collections. The two biggest events occurred on September 17, 2002 and January 7, 2003, with damage to the collections documented at $6,830 and $13,025, respectively.
It will be difficult ever to erase the image of conservator Slava Polishchuk soaked to the skin, standing in the Special Collections stacks while gallons of water poured down on him, heaving boxes of archival materials into the waiting hands of a queue of rescuing Library staff. (As someone noted, staff had formed the opposite of a bucket brigade!) Eugene Leung of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York continues to work with DASNY's Risk Management unit and the contractor's insurance company to secure funds to cover the flood damage: in the meantime, we have used Library funds to meet these costs.
The first year in the new building has been a learning experience from many perspectives. These are our observations about security and custodial issues:
The problems with food, drinks, and cell phones often appear to be intractable. Recently, Security has been testing a new model: while a College Assistant employed and trained by Security checks IDs at the front entrance, a uniformed officer patrols all Library floors and approaches persons who are breaking the rules. This approach seems to be helping, but it has yet to eliminate all problems.
No one on the staff appears to be watching the security monitors. In fact, staff appear actually to avert their eyes, perhaps for fear that if they see something amiss they may feel some moral obligation to do something about it or report it to Security.
The Library has only seven days to request a copy of a security camera tape for a specific date: information on each tape is erased seven days after it is recorded.
When it becomes operational, the ID swipe at the entrance turnstile may decrease the number of readers who slip into the Library without valid IDs. The swipe system reads the magnetic strip on each ID card, activating or locking the turnstile as appropriate.
It may be possible to make better use of the officer assigned to the back entrance at the loading dock (for example, this person could patrol the building instead). Once ITS moves in, we can get a better idea of the need. If the officer were to patrol the Library, whenever a delivery arrived he or she could be paged to the loading dock.
The Book Sale Room
The new Book Sale Room is the surprise hit of the spring 2003 semester: it seems we can sell as many books as we can amass, and readers are crying for more. (Paperbacks sell for $.50, hardbacks for $1.00) Located just behind the Circulation desk, the room's wares are sold by Circulation staff who also track the proceeds, used to purchase replacement copies of lost books. The books we sell are unwanted gifts and discards.
A New Library Offers a New Service Pattern
We knew that the new Library would attract more readers and merit longer hours. Not only is it well-located, spacious, and built to a high aesthetic standard, it also offers three to four times as many seats, more and better equipment, and greater creature comforts. It contains the largest student computer lab on campus--140 machines in the second floor New Media Center. As the centerpiece of the campus, it seemed unimaginable that the new Library would close at 1:00 PM on Fridays and offer only half a day's service on Sunday.
The Library Cabinet performed a variety of scheduling simulations for the new building's several service points. We thought long and hard about the locations from which students most need help, the sort of help required, and whether this assistance could best be provided by professional or supporting staff. In October 2000 the Cabinet presented a plan to the College administration that called for adding eight hours to the Library's weekly service program, requiring one new line (New Media Center Manager) and about $100,000 for part-time staff. Over the course of the 2001/02 academic year, we discussed staff schedules for the new building. (Extending hours requires not only an infusion of new temporary services dollars and one new position, but also certain schedule changes for staff.) Each member of the Library management team worked out a wide range of sample staff schedules.
When the new Library opened on August 28, 2002, thanks to Student Technology Fee funds for the new Media Center and the support of Provost Roberta Matthews, we added eight new hours of service, four on Friday afternoon, and four on Sunday morning. Provost Matthews supplied us with a line for the New Media Center Manager and supported the new hours with $17,000 in funds for part-time staff.
At the same time, the schedules of full-time staff were rearranged to cover the extra hours; because the new Library is so large, it is never left solely in the hands of adjuncts (common weekend practice in the old building). Instead, a librarian from the full-time staff partners with an adjunct on Saturday and Sunday. The campus response to the new hours has been overwhelmingly positive; gate counts show that the extended service on Friday and Sunday is being well used.
The Bumpy Ride to Completion
"As I watch the Turner crew ticking off the items on the punch lists I am reminded of Winston Churchill's comment several years into WWII, ‘Now is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.' But perhaps the better Churchillism to cap this off is ‘The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.'" Jane Cramer, Periodicals, Government Publications & Microforms Librarian
In late August, on the eve of opening the new building to the campus community, Chief Librarian Barbra Higginbotham sent a letter to the entire College community apprising them of what to expect on Day One and throughout the fall semester:
On Thursday August 29, the new Brooklyn College Library opens for business! The Library's faculty and staff look forward to the opportunity to introduce every member of the College community to this beautiful facility, and we will be here to welcome you.As handsome and functional as you will find the building to be, it will become even more so as the fall progresses and every area is completed. These are some of things you can expect in the early days of September.
As you'll see, the new Library is enormous! We've developed both maps and tours to help you explore and master this expansive facility. Pick up a map at the building's entrance or Circulation. Tours start on August 29; times are posted at the security desk just inside the main doors, and the librarian guides look forward to showing you around and answering your questions.
Please dial 5327 for the delivery of AV equipment: the new machines to be assigned to each department have not yet arrived, and we will continue to provide equipment delivery services until they are distributed.
The new Library offers a number of spaces that may be reserved by members of the College community; these include the multimedia classrooms, the auditorium, the multipurpose rooms, and many group study rooms. At present, only the group study rooms are ready to be used. Please visit the Circulation desk to reserve one. As the other spaces become available, we will notify you.
Faculty and students have asked that Library hours be extended, enabling them to enjoy the beautiful new building over the course of a longer service week. We are delighted to add eight new hours of service, including Friday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Beginning Tuesday September 3 the Library will be open:
Monday - Thursday 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday - Sunday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
It is a great thrill for the Library faculty and staff to deliver this amazing new building to you, the members of the College community. A monumental team effort involving College and University staff, city and state elected officials, generous benefactors, architects, and builders has made all this possible. Please come to the new Library and allow us to share our joy and happiness with you. We are eager to have your comments and insights.
It is fair to say that many staff would have preferred to remain in temporary quarters (considerably more comfortable that the new Library, during its first weeks of operation) until the new building was more complete. Small wonder: the workmen under foot, the noise and dust generated by continuing construction activity, not to mention the floods, false fire alarms, odors, and gasses that we experienced were constant and nagging annoyances. Neither of the Library's classrooms had been completed or equipped, nor had the multimedia classrooms. Nonetheless, there was no question that starting the fall semester in the new building was best for the College's students and faculty, and open we did.
The new building is still not 100% complete, although its missing bits and pieces are far less obvious than they were in September. Progress is being made on the building's two punch lists (one created by the architects, the other by project manager Marla Appelbaum). Here are some of the high points:
Connectivity is still a work in progress. The complex process of testing and accepting ownership of the building's extensive cabling continues, and a number of public access PCs have yet to be installed, pending the completion of these tests. Even the many machines that do have e-mail and Internet access enjoy their connectivity slowly and sporadically–many days, digital traffic is excruciatingly slow, and there is an exceptional amount of downtime.
The bottom line appears to be that, until Information Technology Services moves into the building (projected start: June 23, 2003), our connectivity will continue to be slow at best. So many "hops" occur between the ITS servers at the other end of campus and the Library at the other, that Internet speed is tortuous.
Project Manager Marla Appelbaum completed her contract on February 5. Charlie Ayes (Facilities Planning) will continue to work with Turner Construction, finishing the punch list, with Miriam Deutch and Howard Spivak assisting him from the Library side.
Equipment for the New Library
This was an area in which the news just kept getting better and better. Thanks to support from Vice-President Steve Little and pricing negotiated by University Dean for Instructional Technology and Information Services Michael Ribaudo we were able to buy 500 machines for the new Library, spending funds from the $4 million Topfer gift.
Vice President Little agreed to our proposal that Library/AIT staff, assisted by ITS, do the equipment installation: we could do it for half of what a vendor would charge.
The New Building As a Cultural or Social Center
We are delighted to share the new Library with other members of the College community. The new space reservation system (complete but not yet online, owing to server security issues) will facilitate access to the group study rooms, multimedia classrooms, and like spaces. We are already besieged with requests for the use of spaces in the new building, underscoring the campus's poverty when it comes to decent meeting rooms. That the student union building charges for the use of its rooms and we do not only increases the demand.
The Multipurpose Room is among the most popular spaces, and College officials have held several lovely events there. Because the space is carpeted, except for special occasions we discourage food and drink. The same holds true for the auditorium. The sad truth is that, after a couple of hours of people lurching around with coffee and food, the carpets are completely spoiled. We try to help the College community understand that we are a Library, not a conference center and draw the line at retirement parties.
In February 2003 President Kimmich asked architect Charlie Ayes to do a study of how Library space might be better adapted for entertaining. Charlie, Chief Librarian Barbra Higginbotham, and staff from Turner Construction (Frank Yozzo, Alan Alunan) worked together and submitted a report. It is to be hoped that the president chooses the lily pond reading room, the best space for his purposes, which begin with the 2003 commencement luncheon. The involvement of Shepley Bulfinch in any alteration of the building or its furnishings is critical: we can not risk creating the interior version of the steps and ramps grafted onto the fronts of Ingersoll and Boylan by lesser architects.
Audiovisual Services: A New Model for a New Library
When planning for the new Library began--and even after this planning was well underway--it was anticipated that the Electronic Campus Project would be completed before the new Library was ready. Many decisions about the Library building were made using this assumption, and one of them was to exclude space for housing AV equipment and operating an equipment delivery service. (In all likelihood, even if the College had anticipated the delay in completing the Electronic Campus Project, it is improbable that the new Library would have been designed to support what has become a space-intensive and outdated approach to meeting the College's audiovisual equipment needs, that is, the centralized housing and delivery of audiovisual equipment whose costs have steeply declined.) For these reasons, in October 2000 the Library recommended to the College that, once we occupy the new building, departments and other College units be equipped to meet their own audiovisual needs. In May 2001 our proposal was accepted.
During the 2001/02 academic year we planned for the transition from centrally delivered AV services to a department-centered approach. Departments were contacted about the proposed changed, and equipment to supplement that already owned by the AV Center was ordered, using Student Technology Fee funds. As the fall 2002 semester closed, the transition had been largely completed.
Fund-Raising for the New Library
A system of donor signage was developed by Terry Colbert, the talented designer who did the sign program for the new Library. The concept is that donor signs should be uniform in design, appropriate to their spaces, and proportionate to the gift.
Major gifts to the new Library include those from Morton and Angela Topfer (the first floor of the new wing), Edith Everett (New Media Center), and the Wohls (juvenile collection), as well as Al and Woody Tanger (money for journals and the Woody Tanger Auditorium, respectively). Other gifts include:
| Joan Minnette Dorfman Bookshelf Range |
Edith Everett New Media/Music Wing |
| Barbara L. Gerber Current Periodicals |
Barbara L. Gerber Reading Alcove 038 (in memory of Dennis Spininger |
| Jay K. Lucker Reference Desk |
Laura W. Kitch Bookshelf Range |
| Morton & Angela Topfer Main Floor |
Susan J. Vaughn Seating alcove in Great Stair |
| Al Tanger Support for journals |
Woody Tanger Woody Tanger Auditorium |
| Hal & Barbra Higginbotham Circulation Desk |
Margaret L. King Auditorium Seat |
| Jonathan Chanis To Be Decided |
Jacqueline de Weever To be Decided |
| Steven A. Jervis Reader Table |
Class of 1951 New Media/Music Service Desk |
| Peter N. Marron Study Table |
Art Acquisitions for the New Library
At the start of the 2001-2002 academic year Associate Librarian for Research and Access Services Miriam Deutch was named chair of the Art Committee. Under her leadership, the committee has worked with a new energy and purpose.
So that we could open the new Library with art on its walls, the Art Committee decided to organize an exhibition of art by present and past Brooklyn College MFA students. President Kimmich approved this exhibit and agreed to fund the installation and labels. Miriam Deutch created the catalog. During the summer, Professor Deutch worked with the College's art curator Maria Rand selecting and acquiring art for the September to December exhibition. Ms. Rand and Professor Deutch placed the art work throughout the building and College carpenters Peter Tringali and Bill Elfstrom did a wonderful job of installing more than twenty works of art. Now, we are removing the student art work as new art is purchased to replace it.
In the spring 2001 the Art Committee purchased its first piece. The oil painting, Bridge, 36"x54," 1999, by Brooklyn artist Nicolas Evans-Cato. The artist works in a naturalist style, in the tradition of nineteenth century realism. The cityscape painting is an actual view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges at the present time, but captures a somewhat romantic mood of nostalgia for the past. This painting is hanging near the Archives and Special Collections.
After visiting many art galleries and artists' studios, the committee elected to purchase Elizabeth Murray's Rescue, 1996. The Murray piece is delightfully ironic for a library setting, a gigantic coffee cup seemingly just short spilling its contents. The committee is delighted to have acquired something by the internationally-recognized Ms. Murray; when the Museum of Modern Art returns to its renovated Manhattan building in 2005, it will open with a Murray show.
Works of art by Julie Mehretu, Vik Muniz, David Deutsch have also been chosen for priority spaces identified by the committee. Each of these artists is newly established yet already well-known and has recently exhibited in major museums. Much to our chagrin, all of Julie Mehretu's existing works have been sold, and the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney already have right-of-first-purchase for any works that she completes in 2003. With the remainder of the art budget, the committee plans to purchase works by emerging artists and to re-frame a large number of existing prints and art work owned by the college.
Archie and Maria Rand have placed his painting Dinah Washington, 1970, in the Library on long-term loan. It is an honor to have a painting by the internationally-recognized Archie Rand <http://www.archierand.com.futuresite.register.com/>.
Conservator Slava Polishchuk has given the Library a wonderful and enormous painting, Wall, 2002, oil/paper on canvas, 90 x 448 inches, which we have placed on the gigantic overhang above the New Media Center, second floor. Mr. Polishchuk is a 2002 Brooklyn College MFA graduate and the winner of the Charles G. Shaw Memorial Award in Painting.
"Slava Polishchuk generously offered the Library his magnificent painting Wall, 2002. The committee voted unanimously to accept Mr. Polishchuk's gift and to keep it on the New Media Center wall where it looks as though it were commissioned for that space." Miriam Deutch, Associate Librarian for Research & Access Services
The gift is especially meaningful to us, because Slava is such an important member of the Library family. Of his gift Slava says:
"I only want to say that it is a great honor for me that my work has found a place in the Library's wonderful new building. This is important to me also because a library is a place where everything that separates people falls away, making room for knowledge and memory, as embodied in the printed word. In the presence of memory, time learns the limits of its power. This is important, because in many ways my latest work is an attempt to resist time." Slava Polishchuk, Conservator
The Chaim Gross Museum presented the Library with Gross's Dancing Girls, 1965, charcoal on paper, 43 ½ x 29 inches, a large and beautiful piece. Chief Librarian Barbra Higginbotham gave her grandmother's alphabet quilt to the Library; as it is fragile, it has been hung on the fourth floor in the administration wing in a space that receives very little daylight. Publications staffer Joseph Logiurato placed four paintings in his Sicily series in the administration wing, on long-term loan. They are a very welcome addition to this space.
To date, our art purchases include:
Conservator Slava Polishchuk assisted in the placing, installing, and labeling all Library art.
A Commemorative Booklet for the New Library
In June 2002 Barbra Higginbotham began to meet with staff in the Office of Publications, planning a booklet that would commemorate the new Library building. Pat Willard, Joe Loguirato, and Elaine Weisenberg will be key players for this exciting project. Barbra and Joe Loguirato met on June 2 to review photos that might be used in this publication, and Barbra and Pat met on June 12 to review the outline Pat had put together. The booklet is planned as an homage to the new Library; it will provide an historic perspective, describe the building's unique features, and include information about the Library's interior finishes.
