All the sexy work librarians do

The work I was doing in the library is about done. I've (well, my boss and I) weeded the collection by about a third. I pulled what I thought should go and she gave the yea or nay. She learned not to cruise by the library; if I saw her in the hall it was "Oh, Pat!" because I needed decisions made. Outdated books, stuff way outside the scope of the collection, such as books on Ford's Theater and table tennis, I kid you not, multiple copies - it was all ripe for the picking, and I did.

Here's an idea of what it looked like when I started, three solid walls of books and periodicals.

I inventoried and boxed the periodicals, making them ready to offer to other libraries in the Park Service. The list went out today and we've had takers on two titles so far. Hallelujah. Boxes will be exiting the library which makes me very happy.

Here's a first draft version of the culled and reorganized shelves. I had to shift shelves two or three times to make more room and, golly, that's fun; all of those books picked up and moved yet again, up and down the ladder, up and down.

The books in the boxes on the bottom shelf, eleven in all, are going. I've also tossed a ton into the recycle, NPS publications that are now online, that kind of thing. The pile on the bottom shelf, all the way to the right, is a drop in the bucket of the books I pulled for Pat to decide on. She got to really hate my calling her name, I know it.

I also had separate piles that were made up of books that were on the shelf but were not on the inventory. Like the ones I weeded, she had to decide whether to keep or pitch those. She had the harder job in this whole endeavor by far. All I did was sling books around but she did the brain work.


Here's one wall, mostly cleaned up. The Superintendent wanted to be able to pull the screen down and leave it down, so I did my best to keep the books clear of those shelves. You can see a cord to it just to the right of the books. I had to do a lot of shifting of books but I managed to keep it clear.

Some of the periodicals I inventoried are on the shelves below the countertop. The recycle bins hold some of what's going. Eventually all that space will be clear.

I've put shelf labels up and made logical separations in the call numbers on the shelves, leaving lots of space for additions to the collection as well as making looking for something easier and more productive. Lots of people have come into the library and oohed and aahed over the remake. I take my bows and leave out the tip jar.

One last job for Pat will be to scan the shelves for books I didn't know enough to pull. She's going to hear "Oh, Pat!" in her sleep.

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Thought of the day:

Less is more. (Mies van der Rohe)