Hoover library to offer limited services during ‘makeover’

Hoover Public Library is updating its facilities during August, and its services will be limited as a result.

Starting Monday, Aug. 3, library visitors will be able to check out and return books, make requests, ask questions of librarians and use public computers. Browsing, however, will be limited to the new fiction and new nonfiction materials at the front of the library, and children’s materials available for browsing will be limited.

“The library is very excited about the fresh new look that we will have when the project is completed,” said Patricia Guarino, assistant director and the library’s project manager for the project. “August is going to be challenging for library staff to continue to provide library services. Construction projects always bring surprises, but we are going to do our best to provide great library service throughout this project.”

Library staff will retrieve requested items if possible, and the Plaza area and Coffee-ol-ogy Café will remain open. The Friends Used Bookstore will remain open during renovations, but the Friends of the Library will not accept donated items from Aug.1-Sept. 15.

The library is updating its color scheme, which has been around since 1992, and using different colors and carpet to distinguish the children’s area. The fiction, teens, preschool and quiet study areas will get new carpet along with the children’s programming room and technology hub. 

Updates to computer carrels will be made across the library. The new carrels are more sleek and modern, Guarino said, and provide the benefit of better wire management. New furniture in the children’s area will be brightly colored and child-sized to identify the area as child-specific.

“We really want to encourage it just to be for the children, and this new furniture will help us move toward that,” Guarino said.

Renovations continue through Sept. 2, and the library will be closed from Sept. 3-Sept. 7. Library patrons can keep items that are due in August until Sept. 8 in order to minimize the number of items in the library during renovations.

The library plans to put information and progress updates on its website, Guarino said, but visitors are encouraged to ask questions about the renovation when they visit.