In late June, we bugged out, filling much of the gymnasium with everything that was in the old Library. (Well, almost everything. The Librarians got away....) Our little pile then gathered dust until mid-August, while construction workers created our new library space just across the hall. And now we're bugging in!

The First Few Days

If you have strong arms (and some free daytime during the week of August 31st) why not stop in and fill a few shelves? Email the Librarian for details. [Too late -- all finished!]

 

8/17/98--

On the first day of the bug-in, your Librarians spent a bit of time exploring the Library's new digs, appreciating the cheerful decor, and admiring the job that the shelving contractor had done re-installing all of the old shelving in its new spots.

 

We also made and posted paper signs, so that the movers could more easily get the plastic-wrapped bookshelves set down near the bookcases they would eventually occupy.

 

No pictures of the empty room for you, though -- none of the ceiling lights were hooked up and it was pretty darn dark in there.

 

8/18/98--

It took the moving crew all morning to disinter the wrapped shelves from the pile in the old gym and carry them into the library. It sure was hot! But when we broke for lunch, the library was full of piles like this one:

 

After lunch, we finished up the "clipping." (In between directing books to the right spots, the Librarians had spent the morning putting in the metal clips that hold each shelf up.)

 

Then it was time to start filling those empty cases. We organized a fan and a spotlight, too.

 

The movers worked like beavers, shelving the Reference and Fiction sections in short order. And those great construction guys fixed up a temporary circuit so that we could have some real lights on that side of the room:

 

The new bookcases, including 19 to fill the west wall and 1 to run between two posts in the Reference collection, won't arrive until next week. So those books are still wrapped in plastic. And hey -- isn't the rug a great color?!

 

Now on to the Non-Fiction...

 

In five hours the movers shelved almost everything -- a job the Librarians had thought would take about three days. Are they good, or what? Here are some of them at work, accompanied by Mrs. Starkey (in her sling...):

 

 

8/19/98--

The movers were at it bright and early, and we completed the shelving with only a few bloopers; there are a lot of bookends to put in, but the things are looking pretty normal:

 

 

 

Normal until you look behind the cases, that is. Now that the floor was cleared of books, it was time to bring in the boxes:

 

 

Back into the Library came all of the magazines, paperbacks, videos, cd-roms, office & computer supplies, cassettes, videodiscs, catalogs, and everything else -- what a pile!

 

 

Most of the boxes arrived with a thick coating of construction dust, to boot:

 

 

 

8/20/98--

Thursday we had planned to unpack the office, and perhaps the video room, but things were just too unfinished. Until we had locks on doors and cabinets, video & equipment shelving installed, and the rest of the furniture in hand (computer tables, paperback and magazine racks, an entire wall of new bookcases), it seemed best to leave things relatively clean and safe in their piles.

 

Here are shots of the video room, for example, as the video wiring was being hooked up:

While we wait, enjoy these views from the Library windows:

Most of the library windows look out into the newly constructed addition. Here is the view looking north (toward the fairgrounds) from what used to be one of Mr. Kent's windows:

 

And here is what you see looking south (toward town) from what used to be Mrs. Craig's window:

 

Finally, here is what you see looking west from what used to be Mr. Brandt's room:

If you have strong arms (and some free daytime during the week of August 31st) why not stop in and fill a few shelves? Email the Librarian for details. [Too late -- all finished!]

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Almost Ready:

9/20/98--

For about three weeks, things in LibraryLand stayed pretty much the same while the construction company worked to get the rest of the building ready for the start of school (delayed by 2 days). The building opened on September 10th with many things finished, and many things still undone -- not the least of which was the baseboard electricity!

 

On September 9th, the lights went on in the east half of the library, followed the next day by lights for the workroom. Now we could unpack a whole stack of boxes, and set up a temporary desk for the Librarian. Half of the shelving for the west wall was installed, and the rest of the fiction collection, the story collection, and about two-thirds of the magazine backfiles came off the floor.

 

Then we hit the wall, unable to clear the remaining piles of boxes until the shelving contractor finished up the west wall and installed 12 units of metal shelving in the video room. We unpacked and set up video carts, reunited computers with monitors, keyboards, and cables, put together a make-shift circulation desk, and worked to get the shelver back in the building.

 

On September 15th, at night, shelves were installed in the video room, and your librarians worked all day Wednesday to fill them. The shelving on the west wall was installed early on the 18th and a crew of volunteers came in the afternoon to shelve the rest of the magazines and the professional collection. We also cleaned and set up the old tables and chairs, and the room really began to take shape.

 

[The disk in the digital camera failed, and pictures of all this were -- sadly -- lost.]

 

9/22/98--

Now that the old familiar library tables are set out, people really believe we're ready for action:

 

And the comfy chairs next to the magazine rack are bound to fill up fast:

 

You can bet no one was sorry to see the very last pile of boxes go out the door:

(By the way, those boxes were emptied by our very own School Board Chairman and volunteer par excellence, Kim Fuller. We couldn't have done it without her!)

 

Until the custom cabinetry arrive, the circulation area consists of pirated computer tables -- not too pretty, but they get the job done:

The Librarian, on the other hand, is busily moving into her new desk at the other end of the room.

 

 

The Library will open on Wednesday, September 23rd -- not quite finished, but close enough!

 

A few things are still missing, including:

• data wiring and electricity for student computers (and the Librarian's computer)
• upholstered stools for student computers
• two new tables and eight chairs to go around them
• custom bookcases to fit under and between the east windows, and between two columns in the reference area
• circulation counter and desk

 

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Open for Business

9/28/98--

It didn't take any time at all for the Library to come alive again:

 

Notice the little huddle around the only computer on the floor? Those electric outlets and data wires can't get here too soon!

Finished at Last!

10/28/98--

We don't want to jinx the few things that are still "on the truck," but it looks like the new library is pretty well finished. Furniture has been coming in in bits and pieces all month -- actually, some of it *was* in bits and pieces, but that's another story -- and the construction crew is working on the very last details.

 

Students were especially pleased when the delivery of the new computer seats coincided with the installation of the data drops and electricity:

The Librarians were both happy to have the new circulation counter in place:

And Mrs. Starkey sure was ready to move into her spiffy new desk:

The books are finally off the floor in the reference area, filling up a new bookcase behind the comfy chairs:

Six more new bookcases by the east windows hold the last of the plastic-wrapped shelves from our big bug-out last June:

And soon André and the rest of the construction workers will move on to another new building; they sure did a great job on ours!

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