Fun times at the library

Things at the library are busy busy busy. We started pulling books the Friday before Memorial Day and the project has been ongoing. We've discarded more than 28,000 books, we've begun getting rid of periodicals, and the projects keep coming. We had to compact all the books onto the other shelves so the eleven rows of shelves we had to clear could be taken down and construction could begin. We didn't have enough time to get everything onto the shelves, so there are study nooks and carts filled with books that need to be put on the shelf.
We've been working on this project for almost a month now, and we're getting close to being done with phase 2. One of the supervisors is hoping to have the squishing and compacting done by the end of the week. Once that's done we can begin shelf shifting again to get the books spaced as they need to be. Because the shelves are as packed as possible, there are quite a few books that can't be reshelved. It's been nice having the help of several departments and that the task hasn't fallen completely on the shoulders of circulation.
Hopefully the construction that needs to be done will start soon, especially since everything is supposed to be done before fall semester starts in August. My supervisor currently resides downstairs, but when construction is finished he will have an office in the back with the rest of the circ supervisors. The woman who is in charge of periodicals used to be in the office with us, but as soon as she finishes going through everything she will be moving into Technical services (the department she works in). The office hopping and changes that are coming will be interesting to see once everything is done. As my boss says, change is good and a constant in the library world (at least at this one).
We lost a couple of night people at the beginning of summer, which has left nights a little short-staffed. On Mondays I now cover the circ desk, which keeps me from other projects but it's good to stay current on working the circ desk. We only have one person working at nights now, so it makes projects away from the circ desk not possible for her. I've been so busy that once 5 or 6pm comes around I have to work on my normal tasks to make sure I don't fall too far behind. I remember last summer being kind of slow, and I'm glad to see that this summer won't be the same.