The Chanute Public Library and the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum have begun replacing the HVAC system, which may impact summer programming at these institutions. According to Library Director Jeana Lawrence, the renovation will be ongoing for several months, although she said it is expected to be complete in September.
“Right now contractors are working on taking out the old equipment and prepping the space for the new units, both in the attic and our basement,” Lawrence said.
According to Lawrence, the main impact of this project will be on the cooling of the building. While the HVAC is being replaced, the building will not have central air conditioning.
“Over the summer we will have to turn off heating and cooling systems while they work on replacing the units,” Lawrence said. “It may get noisy as contractors start work, and we have installed temporary air conditioning units to help with the heat.”
Lawrence said certain departments may be impacted more, such as the children’s department.
“As of right now, we plan to be as open as possible for our patrons in our downstairs library,” Lawrence said. “If the upstairs children’s department gets too hot, we may limit access to only the mornings.”
Despite this potential disruption, Lawrence said many programs will continue as normal or potentially outside of the library.
“We plan on continuing our summer reading program over the summer and provide readers of all ages with amazing summer programs and events,” Lawrence said. “However, they may take place at other locations around town. We plan to release more information about the summer reading program and any closing hours as we finalize details.”
To facilitate this project, the library also needed to move items into storage. On March 22, volunteers helped move boxes to storage.
“Our volunteers are amazing,” Lawrence said. “They are taking the time to move heavy things and move us out. We would not be able to do any of this without them.”
Some volunteers moved boxes into the basement dumbwaiter, which moved boxes up to the main floor. There, other volunteers took boxes of books to fill their vehicles and a large trailer for transport.
According to one volunteer, Rick Willis, most of the books will be brought to the annual book sale during Artist Alley. Brianna Mather volunteered to help along with her daughter, Hanley.
“We love the library. We come all the time,” Mather said. “We are here once a week or more, and I wanted her to see that we can help the library the same way it helps us.”
Susan Willis, a former library director, also helped with the move. She and Mike De La Torre reminisced about when the library moved to its current location in the early 1990s and volunteers made a human chain to move the books.
“Because it’s the library. It is so important to our community,” De La Torre said when explaining why he wanted to help.
Glenda Bruner has been a library patron for several decades and said she’s been more active since retiring.
“Jeana asked me to help, and we have the best library in southeast Kansas. So we’re going to help, and we’re going to deliver,” Bruner said.
Lawrence said she was happy the project was beginning.
“I know it may be a little bumpy and wacky for the summer, but I can’t wait until fall when we have a new system and we can focus on important programs and services that support our community,” Lawrence said.
Library volunteers move books into the dumbwaiter. From left are: Susan Willis, Mike De La Torre and Glenda Bruner. Hannah Emberton | Tribune
