Genesis:
In the beginning, Special Collections in Hale Library looked upon their amassing materials and realized it was not so good. Empty space in their area was non-existent and they soon came to the conclusion that if they were going to take in anything more, they were going to have to expand the borders of their archival Eden.
So after much discussion and deliberation it was decided that Stack G would be the answer to their spatial concerns and they looked upon Stack G and saw that it was good.
Exodus:
The only thing standing in the way of giving them the space they needed was a bevy of books from Hale Library's main collection already occupying Stack G. A great migration of empty space needed to take place starting in Room 117 and working its way up to G in order to clear out the books. Thus the Great Shift began.
WIth the help of able-bodied students not afraid of tedious and repetitive work, the main collection of Hale began to move and a parting of empty shelves began to develop with every book that was shifted.
Around the halfway point of reaching Stack G, some snares were tripped.
The first was the music and art books of the main collection, traditionally very large books, would have permanently ended up in one of Hale's stack levels on shelving not designed for oversized books which in turn would have been a terrible waste of precious empty space. So the workers approached the administration and said "Let our music and art books go... from our main collection!"
It was agreed to do so, and the "Music and Art Collection" was created consisting of all books with M and N call numbers. With that, it was decided to extend the shift beyond Stack G to the beginning of the main collection to create empty space on 4th floor to place this new collection outside of call number order in its own special location.
The second snare was the prospect of the odd location of Stack F now that G would be closed to the public. Keeping portions of the main collection in Stack F would have been confusing to patrons searching for materials. However, Stack F was a perfect size to fit Hale's mass of printed government documents.
So the workers returned to the administration and said "Let our Government Documents go... to Stack F!" They agreed with this prospect as well and thus, Stack F was cleared of main collection books as well to now be a separate isolated location for these special materials.
Revelations:
Stack G was clear of books, Stack F now housed Gov Docs, and the Music and Art Collection had been placed into its new home on 4th floor. Yet an apocalyptic amount of empty space still remained on 4th floor. Far too much space to let go to waste.
The LP's return to public space and can be found on the 4th floor
So, with the final day of Fall 2011 finals week at an end, the students vanished from the campus of Kansas State University leaving behind all their school possessions. In that emptiness a roar of thunder was heard as an army of staff and librarians began changing the face of 4th floor, tearing down and building up shelving to place many more of Hale's smaller collections there for group and specialized study.
There is much group and class space to be had between Juvenile Literature (partially pictured here) and Curriculum Materials
When the flurry of transporting books died down, 4th floor became home to nearly all of Hale's detailed collections. In addition to the Music and Art Collection and the media cabinets, these collections include:
- Juvenile Literature
- Curriculum Materials
- Media and CD Oversize
- LP's
- Folio (now Oversize) and Oversize (now Oversize Plus)
- Music and Art Oversize
- Music Reference
Additional seating between Curriculum Materials (left) and Oversize (right)
For more than a year this project came to pass and with it challenges as well as enlightenment. However, it was to be for the benefit of the patron to better serve their study and research needs. The staff and faculty of Kansas State University Libraries were grateful for the patience and acceptance of the work taking place from student and non-student alike.
With the project now complete we at Kansas State University Libraries hope that the ease of research, study, and available materials be with you all.
Ben Hedges
Truly it was a move of Biblical proportions, one that took a whole lot more than six days. Hallelujah, it's done! Congrats, Ben.
Posted by: Sarah | January 26, 2012 at 11:38 AM