All the physical crap is the same; worse, in fact, because I woke up with my back spasming. I'm sure this is from walking on the crutches, because although I've been prone to back spasms for the last 30 years, I haven't had a bout of it for the last three or four. Also, I feel it worst when I lean over the crutches, which I only do when I'm going down a step. Whatever. That's the way it goes. I'll be using the crutches very little all weekend and I'll be mostly off my feet, so I'm sure it will ease up.But I did come to school today. Why? Because the SCM and I had plans to go see the new library today, and I was not missing that if there was any chance we could do it. And we did. We did it somewhat boldly, too, with the help of one of the custodians with whom we have a very nice, friendly relationship. We got a wheelchair from the nurse's office and we took the long route, through the whole old building and then through the whole new one, but this route avoided all stairs. The SCM pushed the chair and the custodian held the doors open. Once I got there, I got up and walked around on the crutches.
This is the first time I've seen the room furnished, and it makes a big difference. It is a bigger space that the old library, although not functionally bigger, really. There are roughly the same number of seats for kids. I was afraid that there wouldn't be enough book shelving, but it looks like enough shelving for two libraries. (That's why there's less functional space; the shelving takes up a huge amount of floor space because new requirements say that standing shelves can't be more than four and a half feet high. Our old shelving was six and a half feet.)
The good news: It is much, much better than I expected it to be. This was my first look at the colors they picked, and essentially, the walls are neutral and all the color in the room is provided by the furniture, which is a very dark cherry wood. I have to say, the wood color they selected is beautiful, very warm and comforting. The shelves are solid wood, with solid backing; that is to say, when you push a book to the back of the shelf, it doesn't go through to the shelf behind it because there's a solid wood dividing panel. Our old shelving was mostly metal, and open. The shelves, although oddly sized here and there, are really quite nice.
The carpeting is green, for some reason, but we had dreadful carpeting in the old library, so that's nothing new. Why they didn't pick a color more in the same family as the wood, I have no idea. The occasional touches of formica tabletops in the room are beige. The student chairs, interestingly, are also wood, which looks very nice.
They are building a desk for me out of components -- it's L shaped, with one side narrow, for a computer, and then a huge tabletop on the other leg -- and it is tremendous and looks very nice. I have extensive shelving behind the desk, it seems, which I will fill up in five minutes, I'm sure.
The bad news: They have stuck some odd things here and there, like a series of random file cabinets that take up the space where we need to shelve our videotapes. There doesn't seem to be anyplace to put the photocopier. We have less than a quarter of the storage space we had before, and you know, libraries have lots of crap that doesn't go out on the shelves, but that sits in storage until it's needed. One of our store rooms has had a computer network server installed in it -- it's about the size of a refrigerator -- so we can't put anything else in that room because the server gives off tremendous heat, and the storeroom doors -- there's one on each side of the room -- will always have to be open.
There are some serious supervision issues caused by the layout and design of the room. I have decided not to worry about that anymore. We will do our best. It is absolutely possible for kids to sneak in and out without being seen, and there are places where they can hide and do god knows what. Now that the shelving is in place, I can tell you that this is absolutely true. I'm not saying that they will do these things, just that it is possible.
I expect that we will have to have a good two weeks in there before we can open in any way, and that's assuming that the books come back the second week. It's also assuming that I can get around and carry light things. (Don't worry, I will not even pick up anything heavy, let alone move it anywhere.) At this point, it seems pretty certain that we are not opening by Thanksgiving, as the principal said we would, but more like January 1, which was always my best hope for re-opening.
I feel like I finally accomplished something today. This is a good thing.
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