Ultra-modern East Library reaches the home stretch

The new East Library is slated to open on Saturday, Nov. 22. One of three works by artist Ray Chi is in. Another arrives this week and the third will be installed in spring. kathryn e. martin's installation uses re-purposed wood from trees that stood on Cramer Street. The service desk is a question mark. Artist Santiago Cucullu used photos submitted by the public for his two adhesive murals. The kids' area will have a Duplo table and the windows will have a film that lets in light but softens the view of the adjacent parking lot. You'll be surprised how little book shelving is in the new library. The teen area has marker boards on the wall. There is comfy -- and easy to clean -- seating throughout. A fireplace makes it feel even more like home. The laptop bars are made of wood claimed from the old library on the site. Lots of natural light in this new library. The community room serves as a reading room but is also available for events and meetings. The channel glass walls will glow at night. The library has plenty of seating. The Standard has four floors of apartments above the library. The one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments have terraces. The building has a number of interesting textures on the exterior. Like this one... ...and this one. The East Library is currently in a temporary location at 2430 N. Murray Ave. Published Nov. 10, 2014 at 1:05 p.m.

When we visited the new East Library space on the ground floor of The Standard on North Avenue in July, the space was mostly undefined.

Despite a few half-finished walls and the shell, there was little to see but drawings and a few nascent details. A quick peek last month showed quite a bit of progress, but nothing quite like how the place looked when we got a tour last week from branch manager Rachel Collins.

One of three installations by Ray Chi is taking shape nicely. Chi's bike rack arrives this week and his third piece will be installed in spring. Insidem kathryn e. martin's art installation using honey locusts cut down outside on Cramer Street -- along with a slice of re-purposed stump from another site -- is in, and so is the time capsule in the wall behind it.

The curvilicious service desk, shaped like a question mark (you get to be the dot), is in place and so is nearly all of the shelving for books. The ceiling above the stacks re-uses ceiling decking from the old East Library building.

"This is definitely part of being green," Collins says. "We were happy to be able to repurpose quite a bit of the ceiling wood."

But what's most interesting, perhaps, is how little shelving there actually is.

"As I'm seeing it unfold I'm really seeing that 21st century library emerge," says Collins. "We aren't a place of just storage anymore. A majority of our library is seating, collaborative space. We've really reduced (the stacks).

"We have three meeting spaces now. I have a feeling the study room nearest to North Avenue is going to be a hot spot.

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Ultra-modern East Library reaches the home stretch