The new year has come but the library is not quite ready for flight. We're so close to the end of renovations, yet the upper level still remains closed to the public. A multitude of minor repairs, adjustments, design details, and administrative issues have delayed the hoped-for opening of the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library until later in January.

The major things are accomplished, and anyone walking into the library will notice the changes immediately. The staff are ready. We know our users are waiting. Our new room booking policy is in effect, we are busy again reorganizing around the recently refinished Circulation Desk, and the Information Desk across the way is also back to its normal function. The stacks await the many users looking for that serendipitous experience, the many study spaces upstairs beckon, their monitors and white-board walls gleaming. Librarians are established in their new offices with doors always open to visitors.

We look forward to announcing our grand opening in a very short time. Meanwhile, we're still open for business.

Our latest photo collage dates from November/December 2010. 

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Can a whole library be tense with anticipation? It's an extraordinary feeling to see a new entity emerge from the chrysalis of the old. The print collections are still in place, but the library feels like it has entered the new century as a health information place, a learning commons for all.

It's been said that a room without books is a room without a soul. That may be true, but a library without people is soulless indeed. That won't be a problem as we begin to open up our new study spaces and seminar rooms. We invite you to explore our new spaces and use them to the fullest.

The staff too are excited about the changes. Our offices have glass walls, symbolic of our commitment to reach out to and communicate with you, our users, our clients, our community. 

A Vision for the Future
Our intention has been to build on the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library’s invaluable role in the province and to continue to provide outstanding health care resources, the expertise to evaluate the wealth of information, and a learning commons that encourages group study, collaboration and communication — the library as a place where users come to take advantage of all the resources the library has to offer.

The success of our fundraising campaign and the generous support of the federal government's Knowledge Infrastructure Program has allowed the library to serve its constituents even more effectively by: 

  - creating more opportunities for group study, collaboration and discovery;
  - ensuring that the library remains up to date as technology continues to advance;
  - enhancing the breadth and depth of collection material and electronic resources;
  - expanding the library’s role as a resource to the health care community;
  - increasing the library’s ability to provide outreach to the community.

These have been and continue to be our goals, for true success never means being merely satisfied with present accomplishments. We shall continue to work so that the library may reach its full potential, maximize the success of our students and faculty, and provide resources to the health sciences community that will assist them in serving their patients more effectively.

For more information, contact:
Information Centre
Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library
njm_ref@umanitoba.ca
Phone: (204) 789-3464
Fax: (204) 789-3922

The library renovations are slowly coming to an end, although it's still hard to imagine what a library day untroubled by the noise of drills, saws and sudden crashes might actually be like.

Our journals are finally being unboxed in their thousands and put back on shelves. Office space upstairs, we are told, is nearly ready for occupation. Staff who have been displaced are getting ready to move to their new desks.

The Information and Circulation Desks will be sanded and polished to look like new. Unfortunately, to accomplish this the staff will be bounced about yet again.

You may notice the smell of new paint everywhere. You may notice that you're near to fainting too after a long time inhaling the fumes. Let's hope it drys quickly.

We're all looking forward to seeing the revamped space for the Aboriginal Health Collection upstairs. The information bar around the stairwell should also be a highlight of the renovated library.

By the end of October things should be looking much better all round. We appreciate everyone's patience with the months of disruption.

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Renovations are far from complete, but when you enter the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library you can now get a pretty good sense of how it will look when the hoardings, noise and hard hats are only a memory.

The Ross and Paterson computer labs are back in business, despite the fact that we're still waiting for the new desks and ceiling-mounted projectors. We're still not able to make the labs available for general use when no trainings are scheduled, but that will come soon.

In the middle of our main floor the new workstation arrangements are close to being complete, so we can now accommodate more people who want to access resources online.

The glass-walled offices are not finished, so some staff are feeling rather exposed as they work in open niches along the east side of the library, reminiscent of of side chapels in medieval cathedrals. We expect the installation of the office walls to be completed soon. Staff will no longer have to share their telephone calls with the entire library.

The semi-circular Information Desk is due for a sanding and polishing. As soon as that is done you'll be able to find librarians there ready to assist you with your research and even some of you techy needs.

In just a few weeks the main floor should be done. As students, staff and faculty return to the library they will find a transformed space that we hope will better serve their needs.

We're closed for Labour Day, but when we re-open on Tuesday, September 7 the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library will be back to regular hours:

Monday to Friday:  8am - 11pm

Saturday:  9am - 11pm

Sunday: 10am - 9pm

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As you can see, the main floor is beginning to look like a library again. Not all the glass walls are in place for staff. And public workstations are mostly in storage. However, we still provide a number of computers for students and staff in the bright space behind the elevator shaft.

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When you enter the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library you can now actually see sunlight and open spaces. The hoardings have come down on the main floor (the 200 level) and you can now get a sense of what the new library will look like after renovations are complete.

A new coat of paint is being applied, office spaces and computer labs have been redesigned, the Circulation staff are installed in their bright new work area. Most noticeable are the new glass walls everywhere. The glass wall system is not yet completely installed, but you can already get a sense of how it brightens up the place.

Of course, there is much more to come. The tall glass installations won't look quite so stark when they're complete. The lower parts of walls and doors will receive a light frosting, and staff spaces will be properly labelled with names and room numbers. But already the library looks bigger and brighter.

Upstairs, the glossy seminar rooms are taking shape and new office space is being created for our outreach services and technical services staff. Until construction is done our books and journals remain closed to the public. If you need anything, just ask at the desk and we will fetch it for you.

It's a long time coming, but we hope the renovated library will be a dynamic space that will encourage private and collaborative study among students, faculty, health care professionals, and the general public.

The cooler weather over the past few days reminds us that summer is coming to an end, and so will our abbreviated hours of operation.

Until September 5 the library is open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and closed on weekends. For assistance call the Information Desk at 789-3464 or our Circulation Desk at 789-3342.

We are closed September 6 for the Labour Day holiday. On September 7 we revert to our regular hours of operation.

Hours Until September 5, 2010 (Closed Labour Day, September 6)

To keep you informed about our renovations we are continuing to update this blog and posting news updates on our website:http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/health.

We have reached an exciting development after months of renovations. Workers are now busy installing the new glass wall system upstairs (the 300 level). The big new boardroom, the twelve shiny new seminar rooms on the east side, and staff offices on the west side will all be completed shortly. The new glass walls and doors to many of the library's spaces will enhance the feeling of spaciousness and light in the renovated building.

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On August 3 installation of the glass wall system will begin on the main floor (the 200 level). Workers will begin on the west side of the library with the LETS/IST office and work their way around to the staff offices on the east side.

That means that staff currently using these three-walled niches will have to get out of the way for a while. We are looking at creative solutions to accommodate affected staff. Laptop circle in the lunch room, anyone?

At the same time, many other changes are taking place: paint, carpeting, lighting, dry-walling. The noise can still be excruciating, and weary patrons keep asking us when all this will end. We offer free ear plugs and try to assure them it actually will end some time soon. We just don't know the exact date yet.

Here are some recent photographs to give you a picture of the library as it looks at the end of July.

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Phase II of the library's transformation has begun. Hoardings have gone up to wall off the former reference area on the main floor and the two instruction labs. The Information Desk, which served as our Circulation Desk during Phase I, is now behind the new hoardings. Circulation staff and librarians have crossed over to the newly finished Circulation and Document Delivery area, which includes an enlarged work space for staff. 

Staff with offices on the main floor have by and large been able to move back. Some still remain in temporary accommodations with their respective faculties. The glass walls for each of the offices have not yet been installed, so they are wide open and rather odd looking. Everyone is grateful that the staff lunch room and washrooms are once again accessible.

Our long-suffering clientele are confined to a tiny area on the main floor where a few workstations have been set up in the sunny reading area behind the elevator. Owing to the reduced numbers of networked computers, we have had to discontinue providing temporary user IDs to the general public. With the upstairs out of bounds, library staff are fetching items for users. We're as anxious as they are to have accessible stacks once again.

Upstairs, the wall separating a large staff work area from the stacks has been blown away. It's striking to see how much light gets in now. Where once the entire library collection was housed there is now just empty space as workers prepare to redesign the former office space, carpet the floor, and finish off the many seminar rooms that line the east wall.

The books have been moved to the new stack area in the north wing, where they remain as yet unavailable for browsing by our users. (It isn't safe to be upstairs without a hard hat.) The endless boxes of journals will eventually return to their former space in the south wing. This phase of construction is expected to last for a couple of months.

The Archives area is nearly complete and our Archivist finally has a decent work space again. A new system of movable stacks will greatly facilitate the storage of historical materials from the Faculty of Medicine.

It's all an adventure, and the staff are showing great resilience and good will despite the dust, noise and discomfort. Have a look at the latest photos of this massive work in progress.

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