Major Moves Completed

The library move continued on Tuesday as books were taken from the Conference Room and the Witmarsum Room to the north wing of the new library. Debbie Musser, the Hallett coordinator demonstrates perfect book moving technique here as she unloads the blue shelves of the Witmarsum Room.

Seven sections of grey shelving needed to be taken from the reading room to the north wing of the new library. Jess Smith and Joseph Kabui from the AMBS Summer Crew separated the sections. Joseph and Matt Tschetter managed to carry two entire units into the building without unbolting the bases.

Getting the filled missles up the steps from the lower level presented an engineering challenge to Al Parton of Hallett Movers. He expertly constructed a plywood ramp along the reserve shelves to an elevated platform by the new book shelves. The ramp continued up the stairs at an angle that was not too steep for the heavy missiles. By Wednesday morning, only a few rows of back periodicals remained to be brought up from the lower level. With energy and flair, Al pushed dozens of loaded missiles up the ramp into the reading room.

While missiles waited for unloading in the south wing, Andrea Kraybill arranged back periodicals on the shelves.

By the late morning on Wednesday, only cleanup tasks remained. AMBS grad Leroy Bechler put on bookends. Sarah Farmwald of Goshen helped Al and Debbie stack dollies and missiles for loading in the truck.

Before the Hallett movers left, I showed them through the new library and the old lower books stacks where the books had been before the April 2006 move. They joined me for my first trip in the new elevator.

The AMBS Library staff is very grateful for the fine work done by the Hallett Movers at AMBS Library. Their efficiency, ingenuity, professionalism and humor made the job look easy. Thank you Debbie, Al and Blake for caring for our library collection and for the people of AMBS.

The Big Move

The big book move actually began Friday, July 20 when Debbie Musser from Hallett Movers and two assistants spent the day measuring and tagging the collection. After she measured the collection and counted the shelves, we agreed to fill six shelves in each section leaving the top shelf empty. With 25 inches of books on each 36-inch shelf, we would fill the entire north wing with the circulating book collection. The workers put a consecutively numbered sticker on each shelf. They then put the same consecutively numbered stickers on the books at 25 inch intervals. The collection was then ready for "the big move", matching the each book with a sticker on the destination shelf with the same numbered sticker.

On July 23rd, the Hallett Movers truck arrived with containers for the books (missiles), sheets of corrugated cardboard to divide layers of books, and dollies, four wheel carts on which to roll the dollies. Blue protective cardboard was taped on the doors, walls and service desk in the new building to protect from scratches. Nine temporary workers (AMBS students, alumni, and children of employees) loaded the missiles and rolled them into the new library for unloading. The morning shift worked from 7 a.m. to noon. The afternoon brought 7 more workers from 1 to 6 p.m. Blake Hallett, Debbie's nephew worked both shifts each day, setting the pace for the other workers.

By the end of the first day, the old reading room was almost emptied and those books were shelved in the north wing of the new library. By the end of the second day, the Conference Room and the Witmarsum Room were emptied. Books fill the north wing of the new library from west to east.

We expect to complete the job on Wednesday. Stay tuned.....