The heralded Countway Library renovation -- planned since '92 and launched last fall with preparation projects -- will enter its first of three construction phases next month on Lower Level 2. The final phase is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31, 1999, just in time for the next millennium. The library will remain open during this two-year period, and the staff is ready to work with users to minimize the inevitable inconveniences.

"We will be setting up a special renovation phone line and a Web page update, plus informing our diverse constituents through a variety of print and electronic resources to make sure users' needs are met as efficiently as possible under these difficult circumstances," says Library Director Judy Messerle.

Highlights of the $21 million renovation, which has been funded in large part through generous donations, will include:

* a first-floor reading room;

* new computer workstations and experimental high-end technology for research;

* relocation of the popular Aesculapian collection to Lower Level 1;

* dispersion of multiple data jacks and cluster computer workstations throughout the library for more widespread use of library and personally owned computers;

* a redesigned Rare Books and Special Collections Department on Lower Level 2 with multiple exhibit cases, scholar workstations, and a quiet area for historical research.

The Countway staff and HMS's Engineering and Construction Department are currently working with the architectural firm Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott to refine floor plan designs. The project's construction company is William A. Berry & Son.

The preliminary time line for construction and the floors involved are:

* Phase 1 -- Feb. 1, 1998-Jan. 31, 1999: Lower Level 2;

* Phase 2 -- Feb. 1, 1999-July 30, 1999: Floors 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6;

* Phase 3 -- Aug. 1, 1999-Dec. 31, 1999: Floor 1 and Lower Level 1.