The closing of certain floors in the Sciences Library to install a new sprinkler system will continue through December, but students will still be able to check out books from those floors, according to Joanna Saltonstall, facilities management program manager.
The operation, which Cintas Fire Protection Services began on Oct. 5, started with the top floors and will continue down to the third floor. Two of the SciLi's floors will be closed to the public every week from Monday through Friday. This week, the ninth and tenth floors are off-limits.
The library needs the sprinkler system to adhere to Rhode Island's updated fire codes, Saltonstall wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. At the time of the construction of the Friedman Study Center and the installation of sprinklers on the lower floors of the library, Facilities Management committed to the completion of the sprinkler system throughout the building. The installation has an overall cost of $500,000.
"At the end of the sprinkler project and the third-floor renovation into the Sciences Center, we anticipate that the building will (be) up to current codes," Saltonstall said.
The Science Resource Center has been under construction this semester and is scheduled to be finished by the start of the spring semester.
Currently, those who wish to check out books on the closed floors can do so through the library's call program. They can request materials online or solicit them at the librarians' desks. The librarians retrieve desired books every day after the workers leave at 3 p.m.
Students and professors alike demand between five and 10 books per day through the call program, said Senior Library Specialist James Schlageter.
Though Facilities is working with the SciLi to minimize the impact on visitors, certain inconveniences will be unavoidable. SciLi patron Donglei Wei '11, for instance, keeps a shelf of books on mathematics and a locker on the fifth floor. He said he will have to move out when the workers reach that floor in the future.
The SciLi will close floors seven and eight starting on Monday.
