Library Media Center
From Staples High Wiki
The Library Media Center (Room 500) is the place at Staples that houses books, computers, and media. Additionally, it will house classes that are using media equipment. It occupies a vast portion of Building G. The structure itself is basically unchanged in shape; however the abscence of the AV room (which is now in Building F) makes for a more expanded space.
The newest Library opened along with the rest of Building G on February 27, 2006. However, with the massive amounts of material needing to be unpacked, as well as some unfinished work (i.e. painting), the Library did not open with the rest of Building G on that date.
The current Library opened to the public on Monday, March 20, 2006, after nearly a month of setting up and additional construction work (during this time, the "library" consisted of two English classrooms)
On Monday, 24 April 2006, the entire bank of computers was replaced with sleek, new Dell Optiplex GX620s. Before they were four to six year old Dell models.
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Differences of the New Library versus the previous
The following improvements have been made to the Library:
- Brighter lighting
- Sheetrock walls instead of cinderblock
- New bricks and windows
- Brand new circular-shaped circulation desk
- Entire row in the back for periodicals
- Quiet areas
- Upholstery conveniently near the windows
2005-2006 renovation of the Library
By the 2004-2005 school year, the Library was becoming too small, and enduring Fire Code violations, as only two doors were available at the southeast corner for entry/exit. At crowded times during lunch, administrators had to close the entrance of the Library and students had to queue up to enter; as one student left another entered. This situation angered many, and once again addressed why there was a need for expansion at Staples.
The Generation Four Library was closed down on Friday, February 18, 2005. It was then completely gutted and renovated to the current Library explained above. Before gutting took place, mold abatement was done for the abundance of messes from the old carpet. The dark-yellow facade remained, although the windows and everything inside was knocked out. Opening to students on February 27, 2006, renovations took an entire 12 months to complete, nearly three months behind the estimated completion date around November 25, 2005. The reasons for delaying were due to descrepancies between design plans and actual measurements, as well as the unforseen mold abatement that needed to be performed first.
History of Libraries at Staples
All five Generations of Staples have had their own different "Library".
Generation One
The original school (Generation One) had a Library, which was one of the rooms in the building.
Generation Two
When the 1937 edition was built, a Library existed in the area now occupied by Saugatuck Elementary School's one. It was located adjacent to the courtyard and across from the main office.
Generation Three
When Staples moved to North Avenue, a Library was situated adjacent to the main office in Building Eight, designated Room 809. It had space for 11,000 books, and had a large facade of glass looking out into the South Courtyard. However, the Library became quite cramped and as the student body grew the space was becoming unsuitable.
Generation Four
As part of Modernization, the Library moved to a completely new and vastly larger building across the hall from where it was before. This new Library, in addition to holding more books and students, contained Media equipment as well as an abundance of computer labs. It also housed new comfortable furniture.
Six building Library
During the 12 months of renovation of the Library, it was located in a makeshift area within the Six building. Although it provided computers and furniture space, it was much smaller than before, and many of the books that the old one contained were not accessible.
Two classrooms were converted into Computer Labs, and adjacent to them Rooms 602 and 603, as well as the teacher space in between was entirely combined into one room, to house the Circulation Desk and a few computers, as well as the videos. A third room contained the Periodicals as well as student lounging. Two more rooms housed book storage as well as the Librarians' offices. However, by the next school year one of the computer labs was needed for classroom space, and then in December 2005 the Periodicals Room closed due to the moving effort.
