Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the main staircase and elevator as work on replacing tile flooring continues at the Bartholomew County Public Library in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
The Bartholomew County Public Library is replacing its more than 50-year-old elevator after several months of waiting.
The elevator previously failed in March but has since been fixed. Nevertheless, the library still plans to replace the device.
“Next week, we will say bye to the elevator on or around Wednesday, December 13th,” library staff shared in a social media post on Thursday. “Our current elevator is original to the building and has served us well over the years, but our team is excited about some much-needed upgrades to the system. We hope to be up and running with our new elevator around mid-January!”
Library director Jason Hatton said he believes the elevator has been in service since 1969. Since its initial failure this past spring, the library has closed lower-level meeting rooms, moved programming to the building’s main level and added portable toilets outside.
The library board voted in April to approve a $119,900 bid from the Oracle Elevator Company for the elevator replacement project. While additional costs for work such as code compliance were previously estimated at $20,000 to $40,000, Hatton said it looks like these are going to be less expensive than anticipated.
Oracle has told the library that the work will take a month, and Hatton said it’s his guess that the new elevator will be available for use no earlier than the week of Jan. 22, as delays may occur due to the holidays.
Hatton hopes the new elevator will instill users with more confidence and be good for the next 50 years.
Once the work is finished, the library hopes to hold an open house event, likely in February, he said.
“That’s also when we’ll be doing the dedication to the atrium that we named after Steve Suckow, former director, a little ceremony for that,” Hatton said. “And then I think we’re also planning to have kind of a soft launch of our 125th anniversary. 2024 is that 125th anniversary; we started services in February of 1899. And so we’ll be celebrating that throughout the year.”
