Moving The Last Bit

I decided I would show the last photos we have from Manhattan. Although we are in at LB, I decided to blog this first before I begin with LB. Here are the photos taken the week of December 8.


Our workroom located behind the front desk. It was packed with everyone's desk, several shelves and several tables.


Looking at the back wall where the magazines and newspapers were located.


Looking from where the stacks used to be. Fiction and non-fiction were found in this area. The photo is shot back towards the front desk.


This photo is just to the right of the previous one. It is towards what used to be the computer sign up desk. When we went to PINES there was no longer a need to sign up.


From the side door looking into the library. Okay, what used to be the library.


The actual last load to leave Manhattan - other than the desk.


The workroom again. Almost empty.


Emptying out


The area that housed the children's books.













I will take photos one last time of Manhattan this week. Of course, it will be almost empty. We still have some shelves and desks we are selling - but except for that, it will be empty. I'll have alot more to say when I blog with those photos. Until then...

More Photos

It's Saturday!!! And we're here...at the library!!! Not home sleeping or watching football or whatever, but here. Actually it's fine. It's interesting to watch the library take shape. We have a different look. We've moved things around just enough to make things look different. I have mentioned the new Young Adult (YA) section before. It will be located where the public access computers used to be. The computers were moved out into what used to be the reference section. Reference has been consolidated and moved to the back corner of the library. The videos and audio books which were in the front lobby across the room from the magazines are now located behind the computers in the old reference section.

In the Children's Library, the biggest change is in the back arts and crafts room. No longer is there a glass window wall to separate the trolley from the arts and crafts room. It is all one big room. The trolley has been moved away from the window and is now located a few feet away against the west wall. This opens up the front window for more light. What a difference!! Our Children and Youth Coordinator Beth Tanner can now use the big room to do more things. She can always have story time but can also show movies and have other activities. This will be a great place. The children's library will be opened up a little as we move one set of reference shelves out. It's subtle, but effective.

Today the movers will be bringing books that go in our compact shelving in the back. Yesterday, last night they brought 22 carts of books and have 23 more to load up, bring over and unload to the shelves. Then they will begin with the children's library.

Well, I just realized I have not taken any photos of the arts and crafts room, so off I go. You'll see them below.

More later...


Just a look at both top and bottom or fiction and non-fiction.


Our workroom taking shape???


The video and audio book section which has beem moved from the front lobby to the back lobby.


A big look at the lobby.


The new computer area!!


The video and audio book area behind the computers.


Another look at the computers.


The Young Adult area so far. Remember, the computers used to be back here. We called it the cave.


The Trolley Room or rather the Arts and Crafts Room. Moving the trolley really has opened up the room.


This photo is taken from the window of the old trolley room. Note there is no glass wall anymore.


Area to the left of the trolley. This is where movies might be shown.


From the cabinets back towards the window - much more room. There is still some work to do here. There will be flooring put down next week. We are excited about this room!!



Two photos of the children's library.

Middle of the Move - Day 4

It's Thursday, 4 December 2008 - we are in the middle of the move. As you will see from the photos below, all of fiction and non-fiction are OUT of Manhattan and IN Lake Blackshear. This leaves a big empty space in the Manhattan warehouse. I would say the guys are about a third of the way done. Keep in mind the books are the easiest things to move - at least as far as organization goes. The books come off the shelf and then go back on the shelf. It's very easy to follow (we try to make it hard on them, but sometimes our ideas don't pan out). They will eventually begin moving things that go all over the library: children's area, offices, workroom, server room, PINES area, mail area, etc. They will be working through the weekend. Needless to say, we are all southerners and will not miss the Alabama - Florida game Saturday at 4:30. The moving crew is based out of Jacksonville and are mostly Gator fans while our director Anne Isbell is a graduate of Alabama. Hmmmmmm...interesting!! Let's see, she signs my paycheck...GO BAMA!!!!!



The shelves are in in the Special Collections Room.


Lake Blackshear is filling up. I'll try to get photos from this same spot as we hit the weekend.


The non-fiction area is ready for books.


The crew loading up from Manhattan.


Manhattan beginning to empty out.


Same as above. Remember, this is a huge room - 20,000 square feet.


This is a shot of the NEW reference section at Lake Blackshear. It is located in the back corner. The reference area used to be out in front of old computer sign-up desk. That area will now be for the computers.


Non-fiction with books!


Looking more and more like we never left.


This is the area at Manhattan where the fiction and non-fiction books were located. As you can see - they're gone!


Same as the photo above.


Just a shot of the many, many boxes to be moved and then unpacked.


This is a photo of the workroom at Mahattan. Man, this room has all kinds of stuff to pack. So far so good. Oh, like everything else that's packed - we have to unpack this stuff!!







I will blog again tomorrow and really through the weekend. Okay, back to work!!

It is Wednesday 3 December 2008. We are in the third day of moving and everything is going just as it is supposed to go. We will open to the public Monday morning 15 December 2008 at 10:00. We will be back at The Lake Blackshear Regional Library at 307 East Lamar Street in Americus.

Below are some photos from the first moving day.


A hole needed to be cut into the back wall so the movers could get to the storage area. We have not used all of the shelves we had at Lake Blackshear. We will use them all when we get back. We also stored much of the bookmobile collection back there.


The hole was cut by people who worked for the building owner. Monday morning the movers arrived from High Springs, Florida. These are the same guys who moved us in January.


At Manhattan we have the familiar site of bookcarts all over the place. These carts are huge which enables the movers to put many rows of books. As before, they load up, go to Lake Blackshear and unload.


More carts!


A photo of the books being put on the shelves in the fiction section upstairs at Lake Blackshear.


Wow!! This actually looks normal - at least upstairs.


One of my favorite photos. When we first came into Manhattan I noticed in the cracks of the floor buttons and pins leftover from the shirt factory days. The building has a long history. No telling how long these buttons have been there. Pretty cool stuff!!

Just Some Photos

We are labeling everything that is to go back to Lamar Street. We are doing this to make it as easy as possible for the movers to put things in the correct places at LB. If we set shelves in the wrong place it takes much work to move them again. Once is enough, huh? We have a diagram of the library which has areas designated - this way all of the library employees and movers know where things are to go. We aren't putting everything back as it was. That would be too easy!!




Yes, we have a "days until we move" tear off. Actually as I write this there are six days...but who's counting!!

A couple of folks are getting new desks. Some of the desks are really old. This photo is from our administrative assistant's office. While we have been here, her office always seems to be the place we put stuff like this. It's funny, we're in a warehouse, you'd think it could be put anywhere, right?

It really helps to be next to a store that has lots of boxes. Hmmmm...

Next week we are open only Monday through Wednesday, November 24 - 26. We will close at 6pm Wednesday. When we lock up that night we will not be open again to the public until Monday morning, December 15th at 10:30. More blogging as we move back. It's almost over.

Reminiscing and a Plan

It looks like we will be opening the Lake Blackshear Regional Library at 307 East Lamar Street at 10 am the morning of December 15. We finally have gotten a date. Finally!!! We will work at the old Manhattan building through Wednesday November 26. We will then break for Thanksgiving. The library will stay closed until we open December 15. We will have been away from East Lamar for approximately ten months or 304 days. As the song goes - "What a long strange trip it's been."

Thursday night, 1 March 2007, happened to be my night to work late. It was a horrible day for weather. I watch the weather regularly and knew the day would be tough. If I remember correctly, we had off and on sunshine that day. I believe we had a good breeze going and occasional rain. I watched several radar sites and watched the storm blow into Alabama. I read the stories about the students killed at the high school over there. I continued to watch that one storm. It looked like it would come near us. As 8 o'clock neared, I looked at the radar one last time and thought the storm would barely miss Americus. I live in Ellaville and did not think we would be in any trouble up there.

About 8:15 pm I locked the library and went to my car. I drove out of the parking lot across Lamar Street to Strife Street and down to Forsyth. I then turned left and headed for home. It never entered my mind that 45 minutes later a tornado would tear through the area. As I arrived home we watched the weather to see what would happen, if anything. The weather up there was not great, but it sure wasn't as bad as the hurricane that came through in 2005. A little after nine we began to hear reports of a tornado hitting Americus. We figured it was not that big of a deal. That deal changed when we saw the first pictures of Winn Dixie. Wow!!! We watched in amazement as report after report came over the television. I wondered what else had been hit or destroyed.

The next morning I received a call from Anne Isbell, our director. She had been able to "get in" to see the library. She said the library was okay. She went on to tell me there was a lot of damage around the library and further east. Indeed, every building on the south side of Lamar Street beginning just after the library had been damaged if not completely destroyed. We had just missed it. Dodged the bullet!!!

Once we were able to return to work and the business of cleaning up the town began, we noticed small cracks in some of the walls. Were those there before? We did not think so. We called some folks to look at it, including at least one engineer. We were assured the building was structurally sound and there was no danger. We continued working - business as usual.

As days passed we began to notice the cracks getting bigger. You can see the photos from one of the early blogs. A crew of folks came to look at it again. This time, however, we were told the building needed to be repaired. We were told we may have to move. How exciting! Well, maybe not. Perhaps they would be able to repair the library without our moving. As you know, we were eventually told we would have to leave. The entire front of the building going back about 20 or so feet on each side would have to be taken off and rebuilt. We would have to vacate. Now it would be easy for us to leave, but if we had to take everything - that's a different story. Of course, we knew we would. So, during the Fall of 2007 Anne Isbell, Linda Erkhart and I searched the city for a suitable temporary library.

We looked at many different places. Some of them were horrible - spider webs, no light, no where to park, no handicap accessibility, etc. We had decided on two places as finalist. I won't tell you where, but they were small. We thought we might be able to make it work. For several weeks we drove past the old Manhattan Shirt Factory building on Tripp Street thinking there was no way that place could be used. It had to be trashed inside - after all, it had been empty for hundreds of years! I don't know, twenty maybe? Anyway, we just knew it was in awful shape. I don't remember how we decided to check it out, but we did. We went in and looked and were amazed to see how well kept it was. We knew right off this may work.

You know the rest of the story. In January, a library moving crew came and moved all of our stuff. Again, you can check out the earlier blogs. Ten months went by and here we are. We knew we would move before the end of the year and actually thought it may be sooner, but the first two weeks in December are the target.

So what happens now? It looks like the movers will not be here until the week of Thanksgiving or the following week. In the meantime, we have to pack up a lot of things. Our personal things are for us to pack and mostly move. I want to move my own things. The desk and the bookshelf in my office - they can move. Beginning tomorrow and continuing next week, we will tag every piece of furniture, cabinets, shelves, tables, chairs, etc. We will put tape on each item showing the movers where it will go in the library. We will have people over at LB to make sure everything gets where it is supposed to go. We figure it will be a lot easier moving back than moving away. For one thing, we already know where everything will go. We will put tape on the floor at LB with headings like the ones on the items - the movers will just match it up. We will then set everything up. It's that simple. I hope!!

So, we'll see how it goes the next few weeks. We cannot wait to get back! I will blog as much as I can - obviously, my computer will be gone for a short while. Perhaps I can shoot some of these off from home. I'll figure something out. Until next time...

Ten Month Difference

After the tornado of 2 March 2007, it appeared the library had come through pretty good. Yes, we had debris around. Our dumpster cover was destroyed - other than that we were just on the edge of a major disaster area. We were actually okay. Soon, however, as we looked closer at our building we noticed cracks in the walls. All of them seemed to be in the front of the building. Engineers were brought in who told us there was no danger.

A little later, the cracks appeared to be getting bigger. Indeed, one crack eventually got so big we could see through it. Engineers came back and decided the library would have to be repaired. The front of the building and about twenty feet down each side would have to be completely taken off and rebuilt. We learned we would have to move everything out of the library into a new place.

As you know, we moved into the old Manhattan Shirt Factory Building on Tripp Street in Americus. What was left of Lake Blackshear was an empty building about to become a construction site. A few days before we moved everything out our Director Anne Isbell thought it would be a good idea to photograph everything so we could remember where things went for when we moved back. So, on 7 January 2008 I walked around the inside of Lake Blackshear and took pictures.

Below are many of the photos I took that day. These photos are the Before photos - meaning before the move. They are the photos to the left. To the right are photos taken 4 November 2008 (yesterday). These are the Later photos meaning they were taken later. When we get moved back in we will take a third set and compare all three.

I hope you enjoy just looking at things before we moved and how things look right now. I also hope you will notice the brightness of the new paint. The photos are grouped two at a time to compare.