Library Remodels for Disabled, Technology

Those musty card catalogs are finally going the way of the eight-track cassette.

Under renovation until early July, the Van Nuys branch of the public library soon will become fully accessible to the disabled. In the process, it will also become the last of the 66 branch libraries to replace the thousands of yellowed index cards with a centralized circulation and cataloging system.

The renovation, which began in March, will take place in two phases, the first of which will cost about $160,000.

In phase one, the building will be brought up to standards set by the Americans With Disabilities Act, including widening entrances and aisles, enlarging restrooms and lowering the height of circulation and reference desks, explained Juliana Cheng, the librarian in charge of branch construction. During the renovation, library planners decided to add carpeting, a fresh coat of paint, better lights in the stacks and electrical and phone lines for the new computers.

Right now, the building operates on “extension cords upon extension cords,” she said with a laugh.

The second phase involves space that once housed the Valley’s bookmobile units, which is now operated out of the newly opened Mid-Valley branch. That area will be converted into an 800-square-foot community meeting space. The cost of the second phase is not yet determined, Cheng said.

During renovation, the library will be closed for business, said Fontayne Holmes, assistant director of branch libraries. But when it reopens, the building will operate better and look better, she said.

The circulation and cataloging system, in particular, will make life easier, Holmes said. With the system, library patrons will be able to tell which books are at which library branches and whether they are checked out or on the shelves. The old index-card catalog is simply obsolete, she said. “They will be thrown out.”