Date: Fri 31-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Booth-Library-Move-In

Full Text:

Library Move-In Days Begin

(with cuts)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Can you say Herculean Task?

Imagine moving 900 fully packed book cartons across town from the Shelton

House temporary library at Fairfield Hills into the newly renovated Cyrenius

H. Booth Library at 25 Main Street... in just one day.

Picture the process of unloading those 900 boxes onto dollies and wheeling

them up a wooden ramp through the Booth Library front door, up to the third

floor (yes, there is an elevator).

Then put yourself in the shoes of library staff members who must select each

box from a growing gargantuan pile, unpack it and arrange the books in their

correct order, then shelve them.

That was what happened Tuesday.

But that was only the first 900 cartons, including non-fiction and reference

books. Fiction was still waiting over at Fairfield Hills.

"Nine hundred [cartons] is nowhere near the total number that have to be

moved. You can double it," predicted Children's Librarian Alana Meloni barely

pausing in her labors as she carried armloads of books from the open boxes to

the long tables.

"We're still in the process of figuring out a good assembly-line system for

unpacking and shelving. And there's nothing heavier than a carton of books,"

commented library worker Jane Campbell as she helped Mrs Meloni.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Mrs Meloni said.

She mentioned certain other weightier objects besides books that needed to be

moved over and put in their correct places. Such items as furniture, equipment

and computers.

Oh, My Aching Back!

The move from Fairfield Hills to 25 Main Street was undertaken by five sturdy

members of the Newtown Highway Department, who spent the better part of

Tuesday, October 28, finishing the transfer of the first 900 cartons.

As expected, hand-carts, loading ramps at both ends and a highway truck fitted

with a hydraulic lift were part of the required move-in day equipment.

"We're all going to have sore backs when this day is over. That's a lot of

buggy lugging!" said crew foreman Milton Adams at noon Tuesday.

Mr Adams had figured that each of his crew members would need to make 60 trips

to unload 900 boxes.

At three boxes per load, the math makes sense. But the men said they were not

counting on moving all 900 boxes by the end of Tuesday.

"When you consider that each carton weighs upwards of 50 pounds, we'll be

lucky to make it," Mr Adams said.

Newtown residents trust that by Grand Opening Day, November 23, all the books

will be shelved and those aching backs will be only a memory.