Campus construction

Browsing for books on the second floor of UTM's Paul Meek Library has temporarily become a hard-hat job, and it's not for students.

Construction to replace the library's roof forced the library staff earlier this year to move about 120,000 books, along with shelves and furniture, and turned much of the second floor into a construction zone.

For students to get books to check out, staff members must safely and carefully retrieve those books from their cramped home upstairs.

"A leaking roof and library materials just don't mix," said Mary Carpenter, library director. Carpenter said she hopes the second floor will reopen before Homecoming in October. "We are grateful that we will soon have a dry and secure structure over the approximately 500,000 treasures available to UTM faculty and students," she said. "But, the truth is, no one can really predict when it will reopen with any certainty; it's a big project with many unknown factors," she said. "No one wants the library back in shape more than the Meek Library faculty and staff and the UTM Physical Plant personnel."

The roof project became more involved when the roof was torn off and the library's old roof from 1966 was found under it. That roof also had to be torn out and everything connected to it had to be disconnected and propped up.

After demolition of all the old roof materials, new decking, new insulation and new fire retardant, etc., must be installed. The Instructional Technology Center and the second-floor computer lab are still functioning upstairs during the construction. Students can get to those areas only via the back staircase, next to the Rogers Media Center.

Carpenter added that the library's Interlibrary Loan Department recently has been upgraded and encouraged students to also use that service. Meanwhile, she said, students who need access to the second-floor books should "ask, ask and ask again" for help from the staff.

"The librarians and staff are ready to help you navigate the current challenging situation, … but you must ask," Carpenter said. Other campus construction projects also are well under way or nearly finished, according to the UTM Physical Plant and the Office of Finance and Administration.

The Fine Arts Building, with a projected move-in date of fall semester 2012. The contractor, W.G. Yates Construction of Memphis, is working to complete the exterior footings and has begun laying block for the exterior walls. Some rough-in utility work has started on the interior of the building and many of the outside utilities are finished. However, weather problems and other factors could delay the projected completion date, said Tim Nipp, director of the Physical Plant.

The Humanities Building, which is near completion. Humanities Phase 2 consisted of replacing all the HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) equipment on all floors of the west end of the building and was completed this summer, five months ahead of schedule, Nipp said. Other work has included replacing flooring, ceilings and lights; painting all rooms; and renovating all restrooms, which allows for an improved look and to meet ADA requirements, he said. Work on Humanities began in 2005.