Progress!

The visual contrast in the Library between the start of this week and the end of this week is striking.  As of this writing, the Library is skeletal.  I cannot help but be struck by how much space the Library appears to have when the building is mostly empty.

The back room "before."  This view is from Cait's desk.

The back room "after." This view is from where Cait's desk used to be!

Children's Room then.

Children's Room now.

From the Circ Desk.

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At the start of the week, we were finishing packing our portion and starting to move things to the Meeting Place.  A tremendous THANKS goes to town Facility Manager, Bud Meyers, who spent every morning this week (and last) moving not only our boxes, but our furniture across the street.  Some of that furniture is the heaviest items I’ve ever come across.  If you see Bud around, by all means offer him thanks, cookies, cake, ice cream… he has done a Herculean task and we can’t thank him enough.

On Monday our professional packers arrived at 8 and began tackling the collection which was moved to storage.  They too, were amazing both in speed and efficiency.  With their supplies they were able to minimize the number of boxes and keep order.  Still, we have 45 pallets in storage.  This is approximately 1000 boxes, slightly lower than we anticipated for the collection, but that was a nice surprise.

The Meeting Place however…. I’ve described it to friends this week as an explosion in a box factory, a maze of furniture and cardboard, and well, just an overwhelming mess.  It is the polar opposite of the Library. (I forgot to take the before pictures, but we’ll try to remember before we tackle things next week.)

Most everything is going on schedule.  We have had a little difficulty with the phones, but voice mail should still be working and we are continuing to monitor.  We are told everything should be set by early next week.

I know we are making progress because I’m starting to have aches in places I’ve not had in years!

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End of Packing Week One -- Here's what we've accomplished!

It's been an incredibly busy week at Saxton B. Little as we pack up to move across the street into the MINI B.! Today marks the end of our initial packing stage. We boxed up all the books we know you'll want at the MINI B., along with everything in our staff areas that we'll be taking with us or storing off-site while the renovations take place.

Next week, the professional packers come in to box up all the books that we can't fit in the MINI B. We'll also start to set-up across the street, which will be a longer process as we don't yet have bookcases! (We need to take the books off the shelves in the main building before we can bring them over to the MINI B.)

In the event that you need to get a hold of us next week, please call us at 860-228-0350 -- we can answer your questions about renewing items and anything else you may need. If you don't get a person, please leave us a message and we'll return your call ASAP.

Until next time,

Cait

Below are some pictures of the Library as of 3:00 this afternoon!

Empty window in the children's area, and lots of boxes to go into storage.

A clean bulletin board and parenting section!

View behind the circ desk...

Look, Ma! No DVDs! (They're all in their cases, waiting to be packed up.)

In our staff area -- Cait's desk is gone, and Megan's desk is empty!

 

Empty magazine racks, and floor space?!

We'll only have room for one patron computer at the MINI B., so the rest are patiently waiting to be moved into storage for a year.

Packing Up the Library - Day One!

It's Day One of our mission to pack up the Library for our move to the MINI B., so I wanted to post some before and during pictures of what's been going on today!

Su took some photos on Friday of what the Library looked like when we closed at 5:00pm:

Everything looks so pretty in the 5pm sunlight!

Though... maybe not in our always-crowded back workroom, office space, and break area!

A view behind the circ desk!

A little spooky, no?

And today, we've already made progress! 

Cindy's hard at work collecting books that we'll bring over to the MINI B.

Boxes in the lobby, ready to make their journey over to the MINI B. at the Meeting Place!

Starting to look empty already -- we've been working on getting everything we're not bringing with us on-shelf so the movers can pack quickly and efficiently next week!

We're marking furniture (and everything else) with sticky notes to designate where it goes at the MINI B.!

This is just the tip of the iceberg -- we've got so much left to do!

Watch this space for more updates later in the week!

CO

It begins!

The Library closed today at 5 pm, just like 'normal'. However, today was the last day that we will see our space as it currently appears! At this time, we are not exactly sure what it will be like when we return, but we do know it won't be the same. So this begins this blog and our adventures…

It is our plan to post here weekly, giving you updates and insights as we know them ourselves.

It was my intent that in this initial post that you’d find our before pictures… but I can’t find the wire to connect the camera to the computer. (I hope this is not ‘a sign.’ It has certainly been one of “those” days.) So, my new intent is that before pictures will appear here Monday, when we will be here to start packing!

During this transitional time, in addition to packing we will be trying to keep our Inter-Library Loan plates spinning. We will call you if we have something pending. You may return items to the drop boxes; this will help us in our processes. You should also be able to renew your materials online, by telephone message, or via email. We will probably not respond as quickly as normal, but we will get there. If you search our catalog it may appear that ALL of our items are NOT AVAILABLE. This will not be true! Though it is true many of our older materials will be in storage, we will be opening at the Mini B with materials on shelf!

FYI next week our phones will be transferring. Our telephone number will remain the same and Frontier assures us it will be seamless…. We promise to keep you updated and do our best to get things back up and running as quickly as possible!

Thank you for your patience. Watch here for next week’s in progress posts!

SE