A view of the now-empty shelves which previously held MARBL’s book collections
We at MARBL would like to thank everyone for their patience while we created a new space for our books and technical services teams. From the loud, sometimes disruptive, construction, to the recent, hectic book move, we appreciate everyone who came on board and made this whole process a great success! While this new area will remain unaccessible by the public, we wanted to include some during and after images to show you what an undertaking it was completely transforming a floor and making it a new, secure space for our important collections.
The very early stages of construction
You may be happy to learn that all of our books are now located on-site and we no longer have to make use of our off-site storage facility when it comes to our rare book collection. You also may not have known that previously the books which were located here were housed on two separate floors, and that our staff had offices scattered throughout the Woodruff Library. This new construction has given us the opportunity to bring all of our behind-the-scenes staff, as well as our book collection, to one unified space. We hope this process helps to make MARBL a more efficient, collaborative machine from which our patrons reap the benefits.
Sledgehammer used to demolish a concrete wall.
As you can see from the below image, we’ve upgraded to electronic compact shelving similar to that which is used throughout the stacks in the rest of the Woodruff Library.
Installation of the wiring for the compact shelving.
While our collections highlight the past, modern improvements to preserving and securing them are always positive steps forward. We hope these changes will help us to continue to guide our collections well into the future.
A newly occupied book shelf in MARBL’s new space
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