After more than 30 months of renovation, restoration and expansion, Booth Library is set to open its doors Thursday with all service desks available.

However, the library’s new south entrance will not be accessible for another 10 days or more, and the new atrium will be “the last area to come together,” Allen Lanham, dean of Library Services, said.

But by opening day Lanham expects to have more than 60 percent of the library materials moved in from the temporary library locations. All of the materials, except CDs and video cassettes, will be housed in the new library by the end of February.

A retrieval system similar to the one used now to retrieve materials that have already been moved into Booth will be in place to access books that have not yet been moved.

“Instead of going to the desks at McAfee to get the materials, the students will come (to Booth),” he said.

All of the service desks will be set up by Thursday including circulation, reference, library technology, periodical/reserves and information, he said.

Shirley Stewart, interim vice president for student affairs, said she is “very much looking forward to opening day.”

She also said the executive boards of the Staff, Student and Faculty senates have been invited to participate with interim President Lou Hencken in Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m.

The library is scheduled to open to the public for normal hours, which span from 8 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.

In addition, the lobby of the north entrance will be opened up on Monday for a “sneak preview,” Stewart said. The public will not be allowed beyond the lobby area, but she said it will give a good feel for what the library will look like on opening day.

The south entrance has not been completed because of delays in the installment of the entrance’s flooring, Lanham said. Windows on the south wall of the original Booth Library, which is now an interior wall to the new atrium, need to be restored and carpet needs to be laid before the area will be open to the public.

But he said students will be able to access the south building of Booth Library via a walkway at the main level that passes through the atrium.

The $21 million Booth Library renovation and expansion has been the university’s largest construction project in the past 50 years, Lanham said. The changes made include the creation of an atrium area between the original Booth Library and its 1970s addition.

All the areas of the original library, which was built in the 1950s, have been restored or renovated, and the library’s addition has undergone renovation as well as being expanded with a new south entrance.

The new library boasts numerous computer labs, seating areas, group study rooms and electronic shelving for the stacks area.

Booth Library was originally scheduled to open by Jan. 7, but delays in work on the south entrance prohibited the opening and also slowed the process of moving materials from the temporary library locations.