Changes taking place at library

By Michael Mager/Features Editor

May 02, 2007 06:17 pm

— It all started with the restrooms, head librarian Tina Williams said.
“They were looking pretty worn out and shabby, and they badly needed to be retiled,” she said.
Giving it a bit more thought, the director of Cleburne Public Library decided to go for it and asked the city for money to re-carpet the library.
The old carpeting is rippled in some areas and stained in others by library patrons who ignore requests to leave food and drinks outside.
The tiling of the bathrooms is finished, and wall coverings are soon to be installed. Re-carpeting, which will cost the city about $25,000, will begin next week and be completed by the end of the month.
“Ideally,” Williams said, “I’d like for all the work to be done by the time school is out so that we’ll have a really pleasant and inviting environment for kids to come to.”
The old carpeting lasted 10 years, Williams said.
Installing the carpet will not be easy, she said. Books have to be removed from shelves in order and returned in order. Books, tapes and other materials will be stored in boxes so the book cases can be removed from the floor to allow the carpet to slide under them.
Book shelves are a touchy subject with Williams. On Friday, a wall of shelves fell onto one of her librarians. The librarian is bruised but otherwise fine, Williams said.
“I shudder when I think of what might have happened if that was a little kid,” she said. “It was in the children’s section that the shelves fell.”
When the bookshelves are replaced, Williams intends to be more vigilant about how secure the shelves are.
“Things like that shouldn’t happen,” she said.
With all the renovation under way, the library also has more services to offer.
One new electronic item, shaped like an iPod, supports a self-contained audiobook.
Visitation numbers are up at the library, Williams said. And although book borrowing is down slightly, computer use is up, she said. She wants more adults to visit the library for computer classes and book discussion clubs, and she hopes the new decor and the new digital innovations will help lure them in.

Michael Mager can be reached at 817-645-2441,
ext. 2338, or features@trcle.com.