This blog details the three-year journey to renovate Hale Library after the May 22, 2018, fire.
This blog has allowed us to share our journey of recovery with the K-State and library communities both near and far. We will never forget the generosity and outpouring of support as we worked to rebuild and create a next-generation library.
Things were heating up in Hale Library last week — quite literally, since the new HVAC system isn’t up and running yet. Testing was in progress, and they were about to turn things on!
The warmer days of summer haven’t stopped construction one bit, though. We recently walked through and saw spaces that reminded us how far we’ve come. We also snapped photos of a few of the more than 120 workers who are making it all happen. (Thank you for being such good sports!)
A large curved room on the south side of the first floor after the carpet was stripped out, June 11, 2018. The same room as shown above, now with new drywall. June 13, 2019. A crew member generously lets us take his photo as he tiles a first floor restroom. There are two restroom locations in the renovated space, plus a lactation room. June 21, 2019.
In the video above, Brenna Leahy, communications student employee, and Mike Haddock, associate dean, look around the first floor under construction. The sunflower entrance at Hale Library’s southeast corner is behind Brenna and Mike. As the video pans to the left, you see the entrance to a large space for meetings and presentations, and then the sites of the new cafe, the entry arch to the Dave & Ellie Everitt Learning Commons and spaces between the pillars where glass-walled reservable group study rooms will be situated.
Another look back: Second floor Information Technology Assistance Center offices filled with dehumidifiers, May 31, 2018.The same space as the photo above, June 17, 2019. In the new Hale Library, this will be a public reading room that features the juvenile literature collection. The tables at left are among the pieces of furniture that were salvaged. They will be reused in the renovated building. The view from inside the future home of the Dow Center for Multicultural and Community Studies on Hale Library’s second floor, June 21, 2019. Previously the Dow Center was located on the fourth floor and this was IT office space. Here’s another “then and now” photo … of a person this time! Aaron Cline, one of the workers from American Fire Sprinkler, spent nearly two years replacing pipes in Hale Library. In 2016, we featured them on our Instagram account, @kstatelibraries: “We ran the new feed that feeds all the standpipes. So it’s a six-inch pipe that we’re dragging through this tunnel. You can barely sit up, much less stand, and it took us a couple weeks.” And here’s Aaron back on the job in Hale Library three years later! We’re grateful for the work he did back in the day. There are worse places to be stuck for a big chunk of your working life, right? A view of Holton Hall from the entrance to Hale Library’s main floor. The reddish-colored tiles in this space were recently removed. Note the nails in the foreground that were spray painted orange so no one steps on them. June 21, 2019. Hardhats hang outside the construction entrance near Mid-Campus Drive.
We’ll be back with another building update later in July. Carpet installation is happening on first floor soon!
Only 145 entries out of 2,856 were recognized with a grand gold or gold designation, and we are thrilled to be one of them.
CASE is an international association of educational institutions, primarily colleges and universities. Their Circle of Excellence Awards honor outstanding work in advancement, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing.
The fall 2019 issue recounted the months following the Hale Library fire.
K-State Libraries Magazine gives friends, funders, students and alumni an inside look at library successes, stories and collections — and it has been hugely important as we strive to communicate our post-fire recovery plans and vision for Hale Library’s future.
This week we’re highlighting some of the amazing photos that were in the issue we submitted to the CASE awards. They’re great reminders of how far we’ve come!
If you’d like to make a financial contribution toward the amazing fire-recovery story, visit the KSU Foundation to make a gift to the Help for Hale fund. And if you’d like to see more of K-State Libraries Magazine, visit our website to access issues online or sign up to receive a copy in your mailbox!
More than seventy emergency personnel responded to the three-alarm fire, which burned intermittently for nearly ten hours.The fire started in the roof just outside these balcony doors in the Academic Learning Center, a study space for athletes. Employees in this space reported smelling smoke right before the alarm sounded. Water pools across the Great Room floor. Historic Farrell Library was the most severely damaged portion of the building. The original oak library tables in the Great Room were warped beyond repair.Portions of plasterwork were damaged by water and fell from the walls, like this decorative capital. The walls in the Great Room absorbed a lot of water, which put the murals in jeopardy. Conservationists used the scaffolding to monitor the plaster, clean the murals and otherwise ensure their safety until they can be fully restored.Soot-covered furniture and boxes of books await removal from Hale Library’s first floor. Most tables and chairs suffered smoke damage and were unsalvageable.A construction worker is silhouetted in one of the Great Room windows.
We’ll be back next week with a building update featuring plenty of first and second floor construction progress!
It’s a new era in Hale Library. When Associate Dean Mike Haddock goes into the building to document construction these days, he’s coming out with more and more photos of clean, white drywalled spaces and fewer and fewer of rubble and demolition.
The Dave and Ellie Everitt Learning Commons on first floor is taking shape. Things are progressing on schedule, so we aim to open the doors by the first day of fall semester 2019!
Looking toward the south windows on first floor, June 10. The area in front of the windows will be furnished with groupings of soft seating for relaxed group study. Workers on an aerial lift in Hale Library’s first floor space, June 3, 2019.
The photos below were taken from the same first-floor spot at the bottom of the stairs about 18 days apart.
Looking toward the east end of the first floor and the old location of Einstein Bros., May 23. Looking toward the east end of the first floor and the old location of Einstein Bros., June 10. First floor looking southwest from stairs, June 10. This area will be filled with reservable group study rooms. First floor looking toward Sunflower Entrance, June 3.Looking west on Hale Library’s first floor with the doors to the sunflower entrance at left, June 10.First floor looking west, June 3.
Meanwhile, up on second floor, demolition continues. Ceiling tiles, drywall, pipes and ductwork have been torn out to clear the way for clean new walls like those you saw in the photos above.
Even the security gates came down.
Removing the security gates, June 3.Rubble on the site of the old main floor Help Desk, May 23.More demolition immediately west of the old Help Desk, May 28.Workers use a jackhammer and a crowbar to remove the reddish-brown tile out of the loggia entrance on Hale Library’s main floor, June 4.
The renovation doesn’t just affect Hale Library’s external surfaces. Haddock recently captured this photo of wiring sitting in a rusted-out electrical box. It’s a reminder that the damage wasn’t just cosmetic: Improvements are taking place at every level, at every turn.
When Hale reopens in phases starting this fall, that means improved infrastructure, including more electrical outlets and better wi-fi.
Sometimes you have to step away from the computer and get outside. Breathe some fresh air under a blue Kansas sky, gather around a fire pit and watch the kids run. Maybe hold a baby for good measure.
Following the fire, K-State Libraries’ 80-plus regular employees were relocated to 10 different locations across Manhattan. While we’re hugely grateful to everyone who opened their doors to us, we miss seeing our colleagues. The end of the semester seemed like an ideal time to reconnect and enjoy each other’s company.
Thanks to Laurel Littrell, K-State Libraries director of library planning and assessment, we recently had a gorgeous setting in which to do just that.
Library employees and their families eat and chat last Wednesday, May 29.
Littrell and her husband, David Littrell, professor emeritus of music, live northeast of Manhattan on a farm where they have horses and plenty of space for all of our junior librarians to chase chickens and farm cats.
“We’ve had these gatherings here before, and I had been thinking it was time to do another one,” Littrell said. “We were all talking about how to recognize the one year anniversary of the fire, and we thought it might be great to do something positive related to fire, like an outdoor cookout!”
At left, Associate Dean Mike Haddock puts the fire pit to good use. (For our regular readers: Mike takes most of the photos of Hale Library construction progress that we use on this blog.)
So on Wednesday, May 28, more than 65 people gathered to roast hotdogs and bask in one of the few summer-like days the greater MHK region had seen in weeks.
K-State Libraries web student employee Emma McLaren and friend Molly Smith enjoy their s’mores.
We took the opportunity to ask some of our colleagues what they’re looking forward to this summer.
Thomas Bell visits with Adriana Gonzalez.
Academic services librarian Thomas Bell was looking forward to travel, but he was glad that he didn’t miss the gathering before heading out.
“With all of us scattered all over campus and town I was reminded how much I deeply like and enjoy the people I get to work with at the Libraries,” Bell said. “I had planned to stay for one hour max, as I was leaving the next day and hadn’t packed. It was such a treat catching up with everyone I ended up staying two-and-a-half hours (and wanted to stay longer!). I was up late packing, got three hours sleep, totally worth it.”
Carol Sevin and Darchelle Martin convene by the fire pit.
Academic services librarian Carol Sevin echoed Bell’s sentiments.
“After a year of hard work on campus (but outside of Hale Library), togethering off-campus with colleagues and families was lovely.”
We have concluded that librarian babies are the cutest (and librarians are known for their objectivity and research abilities, so it must be true).
And what is Sevin looking forward to in the coming months?
“I love teaching how to learn and am always encouraging students to find and use online resources to supplement course materials or to brush up on prerequisites,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to practicing what I preach by leveling up my musicianship and computer programming this summer.”
(Locals: Don’t miss Sevin playing the french horn in the Manhattan Municipal Band performances on Tuesday evenings in City Park this summer!)
From left to right on stairs: Jim and Katy Bach, Sheila Yeh, and Lori Goetsch.
The cookout also gave us a chance to spend time with some of our newer co-workers. Katy Bach, budget-fiscal officer, and Sheila Yeh, associate dean, (both pictured above) joined K-State Libraries this spring. They’re still getting to know everyone, which is challenging with the multiple different office locations.
Two of Littrell’s chickens, Elvis and Priscilla, warily greet librarians.
We hope all of our library friends and blog readers have some equally beautiful opportunities to unplug and relax this summer. Next week we’ll be back to business with a jam-packed Hale Library construction update!
