A worker for Tember Carpet installs carpet in a newly remodeled office in William Allen White Library Tuesday afternoon. GIRI NAM/THE BULLETIN

Some students may remember the extreme temperatures in the William Allen White library – the extremely hot 120ºF decks and the freezing temperatures inside the library.

Don’t be scared away by the library’s temperature any more. A completely new heating and air-conditioning system and a functional electrical system have been installed in the library, said Joyce Davis, dean of university libraries and archives.

“Hopefully, we will be able to maintain a fairly even temperature, so that you are comfortable in the library,” Davis said.

The functioning heating and air-conditioning system will be adjusted automatically, as a reaction to the change of outside temperature.

“It takes a while to get (the heating and air-conditioning system) adjusted correctly,” Davis said. “They are still working on that, but that should go away pretty soon.”

The heating and air-conditioning system has cost approximately $1,291,071 said Dennis Mohling, director of administration and facilities maintenance.

“The funding is the money which had been set aside for improvements on university campuses, from Board of Regents,” said Steve Hanschu, head of information and instructional services.

“Besides,” Davis said, “the remodeling for the administration office and the technical services office have cost around $55,000 so far, with funding coming from the library’s operating budgets.”

In addition, remodeling construction is happening to the administration office and the technical services office of the library. These offices were moved down to the second floor two weeks ago, bringing them much closer to the public.

Many of the archives have been shifted to a new area, to protect them from construction. All of them are going to be back where they belong in a month or two Hanschu said.

This is the library’s first remodeling since it was built in 1951. All the original walls were taken out and replaced by brand new ones.

Inside the office area, there is a new room, which will soon be available for faculty and students.

“It provides us extra space for classes or instructions when the other one is busy,” Hanschu said.

The library construction started last November. Hanschu and his committee, which is made up of Betty Norton, Candy Johnson and Art Gutierrez, and the university architect Bobbi Pearson, contributed to the construction project along with student workers.

“We really depend on our student workers,” Hanschu said. “They worked very hard, moving the materials around, setting up shelves, dismantling, dusting and things like that. They did a super job.”

Lynn Pratt, junior English major, is one of the student workers who was involved in the construction project. She has worked in the library for two years. During the remodeling, Pratt and other student workers had to help move the archives.

“It has been a lot of just running around and moving a lot of stuff,” she said with a laugh. “Right before school started, there was a mad rush to get everything put back before the students came in this semester. It took us about a week, probably less to get everything sort of straightened out. Everyone should come check it out. Just explore the library. There is, you know, a lot of cool stuff here. There’s even more to come.”

Xinyi Chen/The Bulletin

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