Lake County Libraries

This fall, the Main Library has become quieter than ever thanks to new acoustic panels throughout the building. Over the last couple of months, a construction crew has installed hundreds of acoustic panels on walls and ceilings to reduce echoes, absorb sound, and make the library experience more pleasant for all patrons. The meeting room is available again for community use, but rules have changed in response to public health restrictions.
 
The road to acoustic panel installation has been long. Library staff first issued a request for proposals for a general contractor for the Main Library completion project in September of 2018. They did not receive any responses for a general contractor, but did receive interest from acoustic panel suppliers and installers. In order to move the project forward, library staff solicited quotes for acoustic engineering services to provide specifications. Once that work was complete, they issued a request for quotes for the acoustic panel installation.
 
Shortly after an installer was selected and the contract was signed, the coronavirus pandemic began. Fortunately, by August of this year, public health restrictions had been modified enough to allow workers to be within 6 feet of each other while wearing masks. Since much of the installation was conducted by two installers working together in the small cage of a hydraulic lift, this was essential. Over the course of about two months, panels were installed on the walls and ceilings throughout the Main Library building.
 
“It is wonderful to finally provide a library experience, and especially a meeting room experience, where people can better hear and understand each other” said Library Director Amy Hutchinson. “Now voices everywhere in the library are more muted, and you can clearly hear others speak in the meeting room,” said Hutchinson. The meeting room is once again open to the public, but now under modified rules to meet public health restrictions. Information about meeting room use is available at the Main Library and on the library website at https://lakecountylibrary.specialdistrict.org/meeting-room#.  
 
Funding for the project was provided by the Lake County Library Endowment Fund, the Fred W. Fields Fund and the Jerome S. and Barbara Bischoff Library Subfund of the Oregon Community Foundation, and numerous individual local donors. If you have questions about the project, please contact Amy Hutchinson at the Main Library at 541-947-6019 or via email at amyh@lakecountylibrary.org.