Booth Library will open its doors in mid February, university administrators said Monday, but some areas of the building may still be inaccessible.

The university has been reluctant to name a new opening date for the $21-million Booth Library renovation and expansion since it failed to open on the previously set date of Jan. 7.

Interim President Lou Hencken would still not give a specific date on Monday because he was worried that something could still delay the opening; however, he did say that the library will be open the “second full week of February.”

Alan Lanham, dean of Library Services, said Monday that “most, if not all” of the library’s services will be up and running when the facility opens in mid- February.

He is almost certain that that circulation, reference, library technology, and periodical/reserve desks will be available on opening day. And he said the Media Services, archives and the information desks may also be open.

When Booth does open the new atrium area will probably be closed off and there is a chance only one of the entrances will be accessible. However, Lanham couldn’t specify which entrance would open.

“If the south entrance can’t be open then we’ll open the north, and if the north can’t open it then we’ll open the south,” he said.

Lanham said flooring for the new south entrance has yet to be laid, but the contractors should start the project soon.

Once the flooring mixture of granite, marble and silicon, is poured it takes days to set, sand and polish before it can be used, he said, so the university is still unsure of whether that entrance will be available when the library opens.

Steve Shrake, director of the Physical Plant, said the new atrium may not be accessible because crews still need to fix the windows on its north wall.

He said the windows were previously covered by a wall, and once they were revealed it was determined exactly what additional work was needed. Furthermore, he said the windows have lead-based paint on them, requiring special lead-abatement procedures to be taken.

Even if the atrium, which connects all four floors of the library, is closed when the library opens, walkways inside the library are available for traffic to cross from one side of the library to the other.

Shrake said the contracting for the atrium work and the flooring in the south entrance, as well as the entire Booth project, is handled by the state’s Capitol Development Board.

“They are the owners and we are the users,” he said, explaining that the university has less influence over the situation than may be perceived.

Lanham said he expects expects to have all the “desks” operative and all the materials moved into the library by March, and a ribbon cutting ceremony is being planned for April.

“We’re looking to get a nationally known speaker,” he said about the future ceremony.

Lanham also said the process of moving materials from the temporary library locations to Booth has quickened, because most of the needed shelving has recently been installed.

The materials that have been moved into Booth have been available by a retrieving system, similar to the one used to retrieve materials from the Booth West temporary facility.

Lanham said each day “more and more” materials are being retrieved through the system, and thus far he has received no complaints.

The renovation and expansion of Booth Library began more than two years ago. The administration had said Booth would open its doors when students returned from winter break, but that opening date was canceled just before the break began, and student workers hired to move materials into Booth lost their jobs.

The administration attributed the original delay to a design change for the south entrance stairwell that was made in June 2001. The change caused a chain reaction that prevented the south entrance’s flooring from being laid, and thus prevented the library from being open.