Eastern Branch Library has bones and mortar now
$7M renovation expected to be completed by year end or early 2007
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

LINDADeNICOLA Renovations to the exterior of the Eastern Branch library are nearing completion.

The outside work on the Monmouth County Library's Eastern Branch is almost complete and work on the interior is moving along.

Ken Sheinbaum, director of the county library system, said the expansion of the library on Route 35 in Shrewsbury has been moving along more quickly now that the outside walls, windows and the roof are up.

"They're finishing up the inside. The inside has not had a lot of problems," he said, explaining that by the end of August all of the exterior work should be complete and the black granite designed for the front entrance will be installed. "We're looking for a report from the engineer to verify the structural integrity," he added.

He explained that the furniture for the library has been purchased.

"The architect has a really good interior design person. She worked with our commission and picked out some really nice stuff. It's going to be very attractive when it's completed," he said.

He said that despite some earlier problems and delays, the expansion is on target and should be completed by the end of the year or the early next year at the very latest.

Sheinbaum said in April that the work had to be completed by the end of the year because the grant received from the state requires that it be completed by that date.

"We're pretty much committed to having it completed then," he added.

The major renovation project involves building three additions, two large ones and a bump out for the new entry that will make it much more convenient for people.

"It will be easier than it was before to drop off books and get to the front desk because there will be parking right by the front door," Sheinbaum said.

He added that the children's room will be located on one side, at the left of entrance.

"It will be twice as big as it was, plus it will have its own meeting room and the adults won't have to walk through the children's room," he said.

Besides the inconvenience for patrons of the library, the staff has had to put up with many hardships due to the ongoing construction.

Janet Kranis, head librarian at the Eastern branch, said last winter, that every day was an adventure. The major construction project created challenges for the delivery of services at the library, Kranis explained, adding that among those was the lack of availability of parts of the collections, specifically the reference and juvenile collections, she said.

"Most of the patrons have accepted the construction chaos as the unavoidable price of the greatly enhanced and convenient new library-to-be," she said.

Flora T. Higgins, public relations librarian, explained last summer that the library would add 10,000 square feet to the existing 35,000 square feet.

The renovation reconfigures the interior space to make it much more convenient and efficient. The space for the most heavily used services such as the computers, and the most popular collections, such as the nonprint collections, will be expanded as part of the renovation. The upper level will feature a reading room and a caf and the circulation desk has been designed to provide more efficient check-out of library materials.

Kranis said construction costs for the project, which began on May 3, 2004, will be $7 million. She explained that $1,864,000 will come from the state in the form of a N.J. Public Library Construction Grant, but the majority of the project will be paid for through the Monmouth County capital improvement fund.

On April 11, the Monmouth County Freeholders approved two resolutions, one was to release $253,000 for the architects, Thomas Associates, Princeton and one was for a change order in the amount of $14,323 for the general contractor, Brockwell & Carrington of Wayne.

"The money the freeholders approved is because the contract is going beyond where the architects have been paid. It's within the budget and the budget is dependent on the state aid grant we got," Sheinbaum explained previously.