Demolition of the east end of Schaffer Library is set to begin on Monday, Feb. 10, according to William Shafer, capital projects manager.
The Pike Company this week fenced the area east of the 1974 addition to keep pedestrian traffic out of the staging area between the Alumni Gymnasium pool and the library. Access
to the staging area is from South Lane, running parallel and to the east of the nearby tennis courts. Crews this week built a temporary roadway to the site.
Demolition work is to be done with a hoe ram, a machine-mounted jackhammer that will chisel away at the structure, said Shafer. Debris is to be removed from the site in
trucks. Demolition is expected to take about three weeks, ending with several days of
sawcutting 10-inch thick concrete floor slabs from the east end of the 1961 structure.
A temporary wall has been installed a few feet inside the east wall of the 1961
building so that library operations can continue during the first phase of construction.
The demolition work is expected to be noisy at times; library staff have been issued ear
plugs.
Utilities between the 1961 and 1974 structures were separated this week, and sections
of the library have been closed in recent weeks to allow for that preparation work. All
areas of the library will be in regular operation beginning Monday, Feb. 10, said Jean
Sheviak, acting librarian.