Courtney Crauthers
EDMOND — Edmond’s book worms might have been surprised to find the Edmond Library closed this past week. Karen Bays, manager of library operations, said the library has been recarpeted for the first time in eight years.
“It was getting pretty bad,” Bays said.
Libby Holshouser, who has worked at the library for 22 years, said this is the third time she’s seen the installation of new carpet. She said new carpet was installed once during her time as an employee in the old building and then new carpet was installed when they moved to the current building.
Bays said the old carpet was gray with a blue and purple pattern. Now each section has its own design.
The new carpet in the children’s section is a combination of purple and green shapes on a khaki background with a swirled “aisle” that leads into the section. The carpet in the adult section is purple with purple swirls and an aisle that leads people to the information desk. The teen corner, located at the back of the adult section, is highlighted with green carpet with a colored circle pattern.
“The biggest part of the project was moving all the shelves,” Bays said.
A company from Nashville was subcontracted to help with the recarpeting because they have special equipment that lifts the bookshelves without removing books.
“This process allows us to shorten our carpet laying time greatly,” Bays said.
She said they also made some minor changes.
“We’ve done a bunch of painting,” Bays said. “We ordered 12 new lounge chairs to replace some that were getting tattered and torn.”
She said the new chairs won’t arrive until early November.
Bays said they did move a wall in the queue area near the circulation desk to better indicate to people that they needed to form a line behind it. She said it used to sit so far back people didn’t understand what it was for. The wall behind the circulation desk was repainted purple.
Bays said the old carpet was not completely wasted.
“There were several people who called us,” she said.
One couple took carpet to use for rent houses and other individuals took it for other reasons.
The library will reopen at normal hours Thursday. Library hours are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 1-6 p.m. Sunday.
