We have had a lot of people in the weeks leading up to the move ask exactly how you move a library. Well, the answer is very methodically.
Everyone wonders about moving the books, and that was a major concern of ours, as well, but we also had a lot of office supplies, programming, and crafting supplies, as well as computers and furniture, being transferred over from our old location to our new one. Our supplies includes things we use daily, as well as summer reading material we only break out each summer.
Photos from July 15, our last day open at 104 Spring Street, courtesy of our awesome Friends treasurer Karen Johnson
We have been planning the move for months, with each staff member having an assigned role. One person was assigned responsibility for the circulation desk, for example, and another was over technology. My personal assignment was coordinating marketing and PR. Two people were assigned to coordinate moving our collection.
Our new shelves were being assembled at the new library for several days while we packed up the old library. First up was the lobby where we sell books and our items in the back staff areas the public only sees through the back office windows. Those who would look back there know how packed full of things it was!
Within a few days, most non-collection things were packed and staged in the children’s area, where it was then ferried over to the new library in staff members’ vehicles.
We created our own color-coded labels to make the process easier. We also used (and assembled) hundreds of boxes donated to us by local company Interpack and kind volunteers, as well as totes donated to us by our local WalMart. Thank you so much to everyone who provided us with boxes and totes!
We then shifted attention to the collection, which we spaced out over 3 days. (We hope that’s enough. As this posts, we are on day 3!) Part of the preparation for this massive task included mapping out the shelf location of the current library and the new library and determining where everything was going to go.
Most of our other moving tasks were handled internally by our staff, but on these collection moving days, we relied on volunteers from our community who generously donated their time (and muscles) to help us pack and move our over 40,000 item collection of books, movies, audiobooks, and more. We had over 20 people each day working 5-6 hours daily just on this part of the move. We wish we could say many backs make for a less sore back but . . . moving books is backbreaking work. A very special thank you to our volunteer packers, movers, and unpackers!
The old library as of yesterday morning. A lot of the collection but not all of it is now at the new building.
Once the last part of the collection is moved over, we will finalize installing our technology and also do extensive shelf reading to make sure everything made its way from its old shelf to its new one correctly. Our plan is to be out of the old library entirely on July 31.
We will then shift our attention to prepping for our Grand Opening on August 7! Hope to see you there!
What are you up to while the library is closed? What are you looking forward to most when we open in the new building? Are you attending the Grand Opening? Tell us in the comments!
Berryville Book Buzz 