Trending
HARRISBURG -- The main reading room of the Pennsylvania State Library is now closed to the public for at least two years, the first step of a complete renovation of the nearly 90-year-old Forum Building in the state Capitol Complex.
Built in 1931, this Art Deco-style treasure awaits a major renovation, with the target start date in September, to install central air conditioning to replace individual units, LED lighting to replace banks of florescent lights and new plumbing, heating and digital cables. The goal is to create a better experience for patrons and better climate-controlled environment for the library's collection of 3.7 million items, including books, newspapers, magazines, microfilm and digitized images.
The room which opened during Gov. Gifford Pinchot's second term has places where lead-based paint is peeling, where buckets are placed to catch water, where wood polish has faded and where old metal file cabinets line the walls.
What is still up in the air is whether the work will encompass a restoration of the ornate wooden carvings in the library ceiling and the original chandelier suspended from the ceiling. The carvings are darkened by decades of cigar and cigarette smoke that wafted up from the floor below.
Undertaking the restoration work depends on whether the Department of General Services receives bids from contractors that make the job affordable, said Glenn Miller, deputy state Education secretary in the Office of Commonwealth Libraries.
"Restoration of this place is not a guarantee," said Miller. "It is a hoped for piece of the program."
The Forum Building renovation is currently listed by DGS as an $88 million project, and the agency is working to develop a request for proposals to then solicit bids for the work.
The State library has four mandates: to serve the public, state government, the Legislature and as a depository for state and federal government documents.
The library is designated by law to receive a copy of each report issued by state agencies, said Miller.
In addition, the library maintains the single largest collection of Pennsylvania newspapers, genealogy volumes, a collection of rare books dating to Benjamin Franklin's day and a book loan program for the network of local public libraries.
The Capitol Preservation Committee has a major role in this project, approving plans and tagging antique and well-used furniture that dates to the room's opening.
When the room reopens, the public will find a place that is well lit, with more computers and improved broadband access, access to more digitized images and better equipped to meet the changing world of library services, Miller said.
He noted libraries have become public meeting places where people go to hear a lecture, learn STEM skills, find a job or navigate the internet.
But patrons who include the general public, researchers and school groups will have no access to the room for the next two years.
The library staff is relocating to the Keystone Building at 400 North St. where they will run a small public service library. The librarians are bringing some of the most requested volumes, including genealogy books, with them, but most books will stay right where they are.
"The lion's share of the material will stay in place to be covered," said Miller. "We will retrieve it as necessary."
This means the librarians will take requests online, by phone or in-person and then make periodic visits to the room to retrieve items. But patrons may have to wait a few days to get a book and will have to do their browsing through the online catalogue rather than among the stacks.
It means patrons will have to give the librarians lead time of a week or two for a request before they show up at the temporary office to borrow an item, said Miller.
The Forum Building renovation will result in the reunification of the Education Department under one roof, said Miller. The department will move from the leased office space on Market Street, where it's been for four decades, back to its old quarters in the Forum Building.
It meets a goal of Gov. Tom Wolf to relocate state employees from leased space to state-owned buildings, said Miller.