The Rochester Hills Public Library’s construction project will be ending by June 1st, but there is still one major job to be completed… the library’s parking lot.
Weather permitting the library’s south parking lot will be resurfaced beginning May 18. The project will take a full week and the library anticipates reopening the full lot by May 26.
RHPL Automated Materials Handling System
“Up until the last few weeks the public hasn’t been terribly impacted by the construction project,” said library director Christine Lind Hage. Sidewalk work closed the library’s south entrance about three weeks ago. Library users could still use the south parking lot, but had to enter and exit the building from the west end.
“Parking the week of May 18 will be a real challenge and we encourage people to park first in the library’s west lot and then in the post office parking lot along University Drive, not by the post office front door or in their gated lot,” reported Hage. There is also some parking across the street from the Rochester Elevator.
Once the library’s lot is completed, the drive-up window and book return will be open for service and the temporary outdoor book returns will be removed.
An open house for the public will be held on Sunday, June 7 from 2 – 4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served and the public will be invited in to see the library’s new automated materials handling system in operation. This equipment, positioned at the drive-up book return, automatically checks in returned library materials and sorts them into bins by collection (youth fiction, adult fiction, adult non-fiction, etc.).
Also open for public viewing will the second floor space which will be used for future book sales. “We will be on hand on June 7 to show off the book sale area and to explain all the ways that we sell used book,” said book sale chairperson Ann Grunewald.
The open house is free and no registration is required. Everyone is welcome.
The Rochester Hills Public Library is located in downtown Rochester off of University Drive and three blocks east of Main Street. The Library is open from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday, June 7 will be the last day of Sunday service until the fall. The Library’s website (RHPL.org) has information on how to register for a card and access all the Library’s services.
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