No, no, we're not gone

Today I looked for the short corporate communication that would say that while a quarter of our shelving and a well-used conference room are both disappearing, library services continue as usual. Instead, we got a corporate message that the conference room will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. So I am off to find another avenue of communication to spread the word that even if our footprint has shrunk we are still able to fill the very large shoes that we have always filled. Library Services Continue as Usual!

Going, going, almost gone

Friday was a noisy day, as the movers were in to dismantle shelving and put the pieces in boxes for storage. This has been on the radar for a long time, and on the plan since June, but Friday was the day. Half of the open stacks area is being replaced by offices. It is the right thing, because we are strapped for space, and stacks were not the right use for it, but it is a big change. When the building was built (30 years ago) there were two floors set aside for the library. And when we go in on Monday, we will be down to half a floor of staff space and a quarter of a floor of open stack. Major change.

People have worked hard over the past year to get us to this place. We've been reviewing the collection to be sure that it matches the business needs; we've been making choices to leverage the open web where we can; and we've started to eliminate paper duplication of electronic resources that we subscribe to. It's all part of the strategic plan to enhance the electronic delivery of our services and products. It's a good thing. But we're also looking at the related challenges, and those are not small...