Did you know you can borrow sports equipment at the library?

Sault Ste. Marie Public Library is starting to build a collection of sports equipment available for borrowing.

Members of the library board learned this past week that the city's department of community development and enterprise services has provided them with disc golf sets.

"Checkout limit will be three kits per person for a period of 14 days with a renewal limit of two," Matthew MacDonald, acting chief executive officer and director of public libraries, said in a report to the board.

Library patrons who are tardy in returning their discs will be penalized a dollar-a-day overdue fine, up to a maximum of $10 per transaction, MacDonald said.

"This is the second athletic equipment collection the library will circulate. The first was walking poles donated by Algoma Public Health."

Legion archives?

In other news, local librarians are keeping a close watch on Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 as it downsizes and attempts to sell its building at 96 Great Northern Rd.

Sault Ste. Marie Public Library is preparing a 3,000-square-foot archives space at its new North Branch in the former Alexander Henry High School site, and has expressed an interest in any materials in the Legion archives that may become homeless in the future.

Among other things, housing the local Legion archives could be a potential selling point in future library applications for federal grants.

Up on the roof

Question: How many librarians does it take to squeeze a bulky air-handling unit through a 34-inch doorway, up a flimsy ship's ladder and through a two-foot by three-foot hatchway into an impossibly crowded mechanical penthouse?

Answer: Talented as they are, all the librarians in the world probably couldn't do it. But the penthouse air-handling unit needs to be replaced immediately and the job's going to cost a lot more than the $15,000 originally planned.

"All four walls, from floor to ceiling in the penthouse are completely filled with ductwork, equipment and piping," says David Barban of Nor Mech Engineering Inc.

"It is basically impossible to replace this unit without temporarily removing ductwork up at the ceiling level, peeling back the penthouse roof in order to lift out this old air-handling unit, and lower in a new replacement down through the roof opening," Barban says.

Furthermore, two very large centrifugal return air fans that serve most of the library are located on the penthouse's north wall and also need to be replaced soon.

Barban says it only makes sense to do that work at the same time, and he estimates the total cost around $131,000.

A request for proposals has been issued with a deadline of April 2.

Library officials are hoping to have the work completed by mid-October.