the_other_sandy: Yomiko Readman hugging a book (Agt. Paper Chibi)
The library where I work has just started a major renovation project. When I say "major," I mean "gut to the exterior walls and start over." We're knocking down the main staircase and moving it and the elevator shaft (that'll be the second time for the elevator shaft since I've been there), creating a whole new floor plan, and replacing the HVAC system and rewiring the building. As a result, we're moving out to a temporary location for the next 8-12 months.

Have you ever moved a library? Only about 40% of the collection will fit in the temporary location, so we had to pack in two phases: one group of things for the temporary location and one group of things for long-term storage. And not only do we have to pack and move the books and videos and music and such, we have to move the shelves, computers, phones, reference desk, vending machines, and everything else. As of today the collection is packed and moved, and most of the staff is at the temporary location frantically shelving things so we can reopen to the public on Monday (this is the second week we've been closed). And once we get the public part of the library up and running, we get to start over and move the office areas. We're planning to be in the new offices by mid-April.

This is what the library looked like this morning:





This is the northeast corner of the first floor. Those grey shelves way in the background ran across the entire north wall and housed the A/V collection. The overturned table in the foreground marks what was the kids' study area. There were computers along that green wall on the right for them to do homework on but that they mostly used to play Minecraft instead. That area was bordered on all sides by shelves (which you can see piled on the floor behind and to the left of the overturned table) that housed the middle school collection. The empty middle area between A/V and the former middle school area was the juvenile nonfiction collection.





This is the southeast corner of the first floor. The tall shelves on the left held the juvenile fiction collection. The shorter shelves on the right were one end of the picture book collection.





This is the northwest corner of the second floor. The shelves on the left were the 'Z' end of the adult fiction collection. The shelves along the back wall held the adult science fiction and fantasy collection. The empty space in the foreground used to be full of shelves that held the adult mystery collection.



We all got quite the workout over the last two and a half weeks, even with the help of the moving company. And I'm one of maybe half a dozen people who have been there long enough to have participated in the move the last time we renovated.

Good luck!

Date: 2016-03-30 11:36 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] bookwurm.livejournal.com
We haven't done anything nearly that extensive, although we've had several rounds of moving things up/down/sideways. I hope you (and any co-workers you like) make it through in good condition!

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