The Flin Flon Public Library will be closed beginning Oct. 21 while new floors are installed.
Courtney Campbell, the library’s administrator, said the closure is anticipated to last until Nov. 15.
“It’s time,” she said.
“They've been up for too long and the carpet is just really showing its wear and tear.”
Patrons will still be able to return books during the closure, but room rentals will be unavailable. Interlibrary loans have already stopped.
“We're not going to be able to answer the phone really well, because of the construction, but we're going to be checking the email,” Campbell said.
“If anybody has any questions, they can email us and we'll be able to answer them... But it's complex to say the least, because we're moving 28,000 items around.”
The library is looking for volunteers to help move items around. Campbell asked volunteers to contact the library so she can organize them.
“We are probably going to need community help,” Campbell said.
“We're still working on that. The staff will definitely be working during this time. Even if we're not doing this, we've got tons of books to catalog and projects that are ongoing we never have time to get to.”
Campbell said the last time the flooring at the library was replaced was in 2003. At that time, the library was closed for two months and all the books were removed.
“We're not putting carpet back in, just with allergies and life span,” she said.
“We're going with a laminate tile floor. We’re going to do it in sections. We move things off of the section and lay the floor and move new things back. So we still have to get all of the books off of the shelves and then move the shelves, but we can do it in pieces, which is why we're hoping it'll only take a month.”
Campbell said this was the best time for the library to close.
“If I say we're closed for a month, I really only want to be closed for a month,” she said.
“People are definitely going to notice when we're gone. There's no good time. This is the best time that we can do this and we’ll still take a hit because we're not going to be able to have our annual Halloween party for the kids. That sucks, but we'll do a Christmas/holiday one in the Christmas season.”
Campbell said the library will be looking to start Saturday hours again after renovations have finished, but wasn’t sure exactly what they will look like.
“[Weekend hours] were wildly successful,” she said.
“It really shows all of our funders, including those and Creighton and Denare Beach, they deserve time at the library as well… We're just figuring out the nuts and bolts of it and we'll have it ready to go when we open again.”
Campbell said weekend hours could look similar to last year, when the library opened on Saturday but closed on Monday during the winter.
