Behind the Scenes of Our Library Move!

 

The end of the school year was a little different in the library this year.  We are getting ready to move into our new library and Makerspace, so we spent the last few weeks packing and putting everything in storage. It was a lot of work but with a little planning and lots of teamwork, it was a smooth process. 

I've had a lot of questions about how we went about this big task, so I want to share in this post the process we went through.  

Earlier this spring, our amazing Follett Content rep, Judy Diedrichs, came by Van Meter to offer us support. Judy has always been very helpful so I knew she would have advice and know what to do.

She helped me figure out how many boxes we would need by looking at our collection in TitleWise, the collection analysis tool in Titlewave. We ordered 350 recycled boxes and they were delivered within a few days to our school. 

As we started to pack up the books, Makerspace, and supplies, I made a labeling system for all of the different items we have in the library. Each section had a different color. 

I determined the colors by using these labels we bought on Amazon. 

I matched the colors from the labels in the posters I created in Google Slides. 

You can make a copy of the posters and sign here.

As the different sections of the library was packed, we added stickers to the boxes. 

We kept the sections in different areas of the library so it would be easy for us to move the boxes in an organized way. 

We were so lucky to have the help of the middle school study hall one afternoon. It took the kids and Mr. Olsen about 30 minutes to get everything moved into the collaboration space where we would store our library over the summer. 

Before they started moving the boxes into the space, Natasha, my assistant, and I hung up the posters in different areas. 

This worked really well and kept the students organized as they moved the boxes. 

One of the best parts is that this collaboration space is right outside of the door of our new library. It will be very quick and easy to move the boxes into our new space the second week of August.  

And it will give us just enough time to unpack, organize, and turn our new library into the heart of our school for our students this fall.  We can't wait! 

We will keep you updated as we go, friends.