The Kimball Junction library staff will remain at the old location at the Richins building for another week or so as they finish packing up books, DVDs and periodicals. Library Director Dan Compton said construction at the new location is still underway.
“They're finishing up the construction on the library side [of the PEAK Center], and then they're still working on the second floor as well because I think folks are going to be moving in there hopefully early next year,” Compton said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Sept. 8. “So, when the library's done, there will still be construction in the building. They're also finishing up the auditorium area, so we're trying to be patient, but we are ready to go.”
The library ran a promotion in August called “Check Out the Move,” encouraging residents to check out books before it relocates. Patrons complied and checked out more than a third of the collection – about 15,000 books - saving staff from having to move them.
But moving the collection is just one piece of the puzzle. Compton said there are lots of other moving parts to coordinate.
“We’re not just moving books, we're also having to set up computers and get all the tech running, and we're going to have to move our server over and just getting everything functioning again like it did,” he said. “It requires a lot of different vendors and moving parts and coordinating all that, and especially when the construction has taken longer than expected, and just trying to be patient and work with the team there to make it all come together at the right time. That's been the biggest challenge for me.”
To accommodate patrons and provide a place to pick up holds or browse for a new book, Compton said the library is parking its bookmobile in the Richins lot ahead of the move. Check the website for hours.
“You can browse the collection on the bookmobile and then also pick up holds,” he said. “If we're getting items that are newer that are being returned to us, we're just putting them out there so you can still find like a new book or movie or whatever on the bookmobile right now.”
It won’t be long before patrons can see the new library for themselves. The grand opening is Saturday, Oct. 3, with a symbolic book brigade around 1 p.m.
“We're going to look for as many volunteers as we can get to line up from the Richins Building down to the PEAK Center,” he said. “We’re planning to move the 24 books that we have selected for ‘One Book One Community’ over the years and the last one being ‘Go as a River,’ this year's selection by Shelley Read. We plan to film this and have a GoPro going and a drone. I actually think it's going to look really cool to have the books go as a river.”
The library’s regular fall programming will resume when it reopens Oct. 3.
