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Traffic Circle Open; Olin Construction To Start In April

Posted on Jan 10, 1997

With preparation work nearly complete at the construction site for the F.W. Olin Center, the traffic circle to the east of the Reamer Campus Center is to be open until mid-April, according to William Shafer, capital projects and construction manager. Bidding for the project is to take place in April, Shafer said.

During December, crews moved steam, water, sanitary, and telecommunications lines to
make room for the building, a project that affected utilities in buildings across campus.
“I would like to thank every one for their patience and cooperation during this phase
of the project,” Shafer said. The site — bound by Schaffer Library, Social Sciences,
Reamer Campus Center, and Science and Engineering — has been closed to pedestrian
traffic.

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Service Updates From Schaffer Library

Posted on Jan 10, 1997

To assist with service, Schaffer Library will issue advisories to faculty, students and staff. Among the advisories during Phase I of the project:

Reference will continue under current, normal hours. Faculty are urged to call ahead if planning assignments with large numbers of students using the same few sources.
Contact: David Gerhan, ext. 6281.

Circulation policies remain unchanged. Borrowing from selected other libraries is permitted through the Capital District Direct Access Program. Cards are available at
the circulation desk. Contact Mary Eiffe, ext. 6280.

Reserve — Faculty may wish to expand their use of the Reserve Desk in order to
save their students time in waiting for retrieval from storage. Requests should be made
five weekdays before the material will be sought by students. For books the library does
not own, please notify collection development at least three months prior.

These and other advisories are updated and posted on the Schaffer Library WWW home
page: www.union.edu/computing/library/library.html.

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Patrons Urged To ‘Plan Ahead’ In Research

Posted on Jan 10, 1997

Library staff have been working to minimize disruption to program operations, said Jean Sheviak, acting director of the library. With a substantial portion — up to 45 percent — of the library's collection of 500,000 volumes in off-campus storage, librarians have assembled a prompt and regular retrieval system to ensure that books will be available in a timely manner, usually within a day of the request.

“We're urging students, faculty and staff to plan ahead as much as possible,”
Sheviak said. “There will be some inconveniences in that some materials will need to
be ordered, but in most cases we will have a one-day retrieval.”

Library staff will retrieve requested materials at least once per day from the
library's main warehouse at Hattie and Devine streets, Sheviak said. Books in storage at
Mullen Moving and Storage will be retrieved daily through a courier. (Inter-Library Loan
will not be used to retrieve materials that the library owns.) Off-campus storage has been
restricted to materials that have not circulated since 1988.

Patrons will be given regular updates on changes through a series of bulletins and a
“Today's Specials” menu board in the building's entry. Also, users may check
“What's New at Schaffer Library” on the WWW site: www.union.edu/computing/library/library.html.

All library operations that deal directly with patrons have been consolidated in the
original 1961 building. Technical Services and Inter-Library Loan administration are to be
relocated in North Colonnade (the former Psychology Building), with both being accessible
through the circulation department.

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The Pike Company Is Named Contractor

Posted on Jan 10, 1997

The College has contracted the library project with The Pike Company, a Rochester, N.Y.-based general construction/construction management firm whose recent
projects include a technology center on the RIT campus and a campus center and business school at Alfred University. The architects are Perry Dean Rogers of Boston.

The $18.25 million project will increase the size of the current building from 65,000
to 98,000 square feet. Completion is expected by the summer of 1998.

Phase II, the renovation of the original 1961 Schaffer Library on the building's west
side, is to begin in about a year. Staging area and access for that phase of construction
will be at the building's north side, sharing access with the F.W. Olin Center
construction site.

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Demolition Of East Wing Slated To Start This Month

Posted on Jan 10, 1997

Phase I of the renovation and expansion of Schaffer Library is to begin by month's end with the demolition of the 1974 wing at the building's east side, according to
William Shafer, capital projects and construction manager.

Equipment and supplies will be brought to the site starting in mid-January.

For several weeks after the demolition of the 1974 addition — between mid-February and
mid-March — new piles will be driven to depths of 25 feet, an operation that is expected
to create noise audible on most parts of campus and perhaps in nearby neighborhoods. That
work will be restricted to weekdays between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Shafer said.

The area between Alumni Gymnasium and Schaffer Library will be closed to pedestrians to
allow access for equipment and supplies. The staging area east of the library will be
enclosed by a construction fence. Construction vehicles are to use the Union Avenue gate
(which will remain open). There will be a wheel washing station just inside the College
grounds where truck drivers will rinse mud and debris from their trucks before entering
city streets, Shafer said.

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