Library will replace broken turnstiles, will be ADA compliant
By Analeza Walker
Staff Reporter
The library turnstiles on Harold Washington’s fifth floor will be replaced with new ones, according to the minutes of City Colleges March board of trustees meeting.
“[T]he Library security system at Harold Washington College is inoperable and irreparable,” according to the report. “[T]he library is noticing that reference books are leaving the library.”
The college will “replace the library security systems at Harold Washington College at a cost not to exceed [from] $16,500 to $163,117.”
Replacements of the current library security system is happening because it is now “non-functional,” and the current security system is not “ADA compliant,” according to the report.
“The term of this purchase and maintenance agreement shall commence no sooner than March 20, 2017 and will continue through December 31, 2018,” the report states.
“I didn’t know about anything new being put in to replace those [security gates],” said Keyala Canady, a library clerk at HWC.
“Usually when something is being stolen, the sensor will beep because there are sensors in the tags [of the books],” said Canady.
Some people remained unaware about the pending maintenance being done until very recently.
“That gate is really old,” said Reference Librarian Celia Perez at HWC. “It’s hard to replace because all of the pieces are just really old. It’ll lock when it’s not supposed to, and you could hear a click [in the gate] but not an alarm.”
“We’ve had those gates for as long as we’ve been here, and we came years ago,” said Perez. “Even when the library expanded, we still had those gates.”
The library security system seems to have its moments when it is functioning and when it does not, and no complete replacements have been done before now because little repairs were attempted to solve the issue.
Because the security gate is continuing to slowly disfunction, they are going to be replaced soon.
As of right now, no replacements have been taking place, but they are sure to commence within the months to come, according to the board report.
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