Library officially opens for business

Published Dec. 15, 2010
By Julie Reiten
Francis X. Deignan Education and Library Center

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Col. Doug Cox, 5th Bomb Wing commander, cut the ribbon at the base library's open house Dec. 2 officially declaring the 2010 library renovation project complete.

The library, with its greatly anticipated renovations complete, significantly improves the quality of life for Air Force Global Strike Command and Team Minot Airmen.

The library was closed for most of September for the renovation. The old, stained carpet, which had originally been installed when the current library building was first built in the early 1990's, was replaced and the dirty carpet and vinyl wallpaper on the walls were replaced with earth-tone paint.

To accommodate the new carpet and paint, all of the books had to be removed and boxed so the bookshelves, ordinarily bolted to the walls for additional stability, could be disassembled.

The library staff took advantage of the necessary rearrangement of furniture to improve the library's floor plan. The library appears to have grown in size and is now much more open even though only two bookcases were moved a few feet. The rest was accomplished with careful furniture arrangement. The circulation desk in particular has been re-arranged to improve service and open up the entry way. The children's area, too, has a new look as the craft tables have been moved into the meeting room to open up floor space for children and parents to sit and read or put together puzzles.

The entire renovation project required hundreds of hours in labor: boxing up the books; moving furniture, heavy book boxes and shelving parts from one area of the library to another several times over as the carpet layers and painters moved along from one side of the library to another, and replacing furniture and books in their places.

The library's staff of seven would never have been able to manage without the 95 volunteers from 15 squadrons who provided more than 300 hours of labor. Two separate Minot Airman Leadership School classes boxed the books and helped to re-shelve them and 19 Airmen from the 17th Munitions Squadron were on hand to move furniture and boxes throughout the renovation project. It was partly to recognize these vital volunteers the library put on the open house.

The library open house was well attended, including commanders, other than Colonel Cox, Col. Micheal Dilda, 5th Mission Support Group commander, Lt. Col. Randall Morris, 5th MSG deputy commander, and Maj. Kimberly Rhoades, 5th Force Support Squadron commander. The library served cake and punch, kindly provided by the Officers Spouses Club, and gave tours to showcase the improvements made during the renovation.

A few photos from before and during the project are on display at the library to demonstrate how far the library has come. The library staff was joined by representatives from Central Michigan, Embry-Riddle, Minot State and Park Universities, who came down from the education center to create a miniature information fair. Overall, the open house was a successful celebration of a successful library renovation that will help the library to continue offering programs and services at a high standard of excellence.

The library is back in business and the staff are working hard to create new programs, such as the Recipe Swappers' Club on the first Thursday of every month and the Bedtime Story Time, which premiers at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 18, 2011, all the while dusting off old ones.