Repairs due in 2 weeks

This month, Newport Beach Central Library will have to close for 2 weeks while it is renovated.The Newport Beach Central Library will close for two weeks beginning Feb. 20., and it will reopen with a new look from top to bottom.

Well, mostly on the bottom. The main project is laying new carpet. The library has to be closed because installing the carpet is an involved process, Library Director Linda Katsouleas said.

“Our moving process is actually rather incredible,” she said. “They have to come in, unbolt the library stacks from the floor -- because they’re bolted down for earthquake safety -- then they put them in slings, move all of those stacks to one side of the building, lay down carpet,” and then replace the stacks and repeat the process on the other side.

Library workers have been rearranging the upstairs collections so the fiction and nonfiction collections are together, and that work will be finished during the closure.

Once the library reopens March 6, visitors might notice new quiet reading areas. New soft chairs will be placed in several locations, and older chairs will receive new upholstery, all in an effort to provide more comfortable places to read or work, Katsouleas said.

Another change coming is a new computer training room downstairs. A previously unused space will get tables, chairs, laptop computers and a “smart board” that shows what’s on the computer screens for teaching purposes. Four to six people can use the room for training on any kind of technology -- e-mail, library electronic resources, or online shopping, for example, Katsouleas said.

If someone comes in and doesn’t understand how to use library computers, “We can take them right down to the training room and sit them down and work with them for an hour and teach them whatever they need to learn,” she said.

A $20,000 Friends of the Library donation made the training room possible. The booster group gave $200,000 last year for projects and have more planned this year.

The group funded the computer training facility because it was on the library’s wish list and the space was available, Friends of the Library President Martin Flink said.

One of the Friends’ next projects is a children’s discovery garden, which could get underway by the middle of the year, Flink said.

While the main library is closed, the Mariners branch library will remain open on Tuesdays until 9 p.m. instead of closing at 6 p.m. as usual, Katsouleas said. Due dates for materials from the central library will be extended until the library reopens.