Photo By Chuck Diggle | Military members and civilians celebrate the re-opening of the Joint Base Charleston...... read more read more
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The completion of renovations and grand re-opening of the Joint Base Charleston Air Base Library here was marked with a ribbon cutting Jan. 25, 2019.
“We were part of an initiative that's called a modern bookstore library initiative for Air Force libraries and libraries are getting money convert themselves over to this new library model,” said Angela Aschenbrenner director of Joint Base Charleston libraries.
The library was upgraded as part of an Air Force initiative to modernize base libraries, making them more functional and adaptable for current needs and uses. One example of that, was having furniture featuring charging capabilities.
“The goal was to create bigger open flexible spaces and to add meeting spaces, they also renovated with technology in mind,” said Aschenbrenner. “Now people can plug-in easily with their laptops and chargers for electronics. The idea behind the flexible space is that we wanted to have furniture we could move around, so a lot of our furniture is reconfigurable now.”
Joint Base Charleston was selected to be upgraded because Aschenbrenner was looking for a way to have the library modernized and this program was looking for volunteers.
I was trying to find a way to secure funds to upgrade the library when I heard about the modern bookstore library initiative,” she said. “This seemed like a really great opportunity to get funding for the base and have the Air Force update the library updated.”
In all the library was closed for six months while everything down to the carpets were taken out and the facility was repainted, reconfigured and new furnishings and carpet was installed.
“While we were closed, we were able to be tagged onto (628th Civil Engineer Squadron’s) painting contract and the carpet contract,” said Aschenbrenner. “so in addition to everything else that was done to make it newer, we were able to get carpet and paint throughout to give the whole building a fresh new look and feel.”
Throughout the week the library hosts numerous events. By having furniture that can be moved or altered to fill different needs, the library staff is able to maximize the number of events that can be held in their building and ensure they can accommodate no matter how many attendees an event has.
“If you've ever been to any of our programs before, you'll find some get really crowded and our spaces didn't really open up wide enough for them. Now the Children's the tables and bookcases are all on wheels so we can move everything around and reconfigure the space to how we need it, which is really nice and make the space bigger and more open so that we can actually have bigger events back there.”
“I love it. I love coming in here and seeing it,” said Aschenbrenner. “It's just super modern before we had some areas that were kind of dead, unusable spaces and the renovations made a huge difference in maximizing our space and its functionality.”
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.08.2019 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 310034 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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