No Subject

[Diane Moody <dmoody@ANTILLES.K12.VI.US>]

Dear LM_NETTERS,=09

        My school, located in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, is talking about =
building a new library.  It will be a two-story affair.  The tentative =
plan will be for the  grades 6-12 Middle/Upper School Library on the top =
floor and the Prek-5  lower school will be on  the ground floor.   The =
architect is considering an entrance on both floors.  An alternate is =
one central entrance with stairs to the upper floor.  In that =
configuration, he is considering a central circulation desk for both =
libraries.  That is OK with me provided we have staff assigned to do =
circulation.  Librarians still can't be in two places at the same time.  =


         The school is a college prep serving about 450 students with heavy =
emphasis on academics and research.   Right now I have 4 student =
computer workstations with CD-ROM's, Internet access, and planned Ebsco =
EMAS access.  The lower library has only one workstation.  We will be =
automating this year using Athena.  The whole campus has a LAN with =
about 120 computers online.  =20

        Due to the tropical climate, past structures here are usually open on =
two sides with sliding glass door/windows and ceiling fans.  I have =
limited storage space.  Most of the collection is very dusty and has =
brownish/red mold spots as does the card catalog.  We have noted mold =
growing on videotapes as well.=20


        1.  I feel we should stay with split collection and space due to nature =
of the research and age ranges of student population.  Any merit in =
combining the collections and sharing of space from preK-12?   (May be a =
moot point once we start looking at shelf space and square footage, etc.

        2.  Former librarian has the board convinced it's too expensive to air =
conditon a library and that the books are better off with high heat and =
humidity than being cool and dry and then turning off the AC at night.  =
My question:  why turn the AC off?  I thought it was more efficient to =
leave it on continously than turning off and asking the system to try to =
cool off the building each AM.
What is best for the books and computers?  People always come last in =
the equation, I guess.

        My unscientific observation is that the building never cools off at =
night and the humidity builds as the day goes on with the windows open.. =
 Fans are only pushing hot air around, although they may drop some of =
the humidity out.

        We certainly will be having more than 6 computers in the libraries and =
they are all the kind that run hot.

        Any ideas of where I could find information on library design =
considerations for this climate?  Pro/cons of AC for life of the books =
and computers?

        Any other thoughts or suggestions?
        TIA

Diane Moody, Librarian
Antilles School
St. Thomas, USVI
dmoody@antilles.k12.vi.us

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