March 23, 2016
Coming together!
We are in the final stretch before our grand opening, set to take place on Saturday, May 7 at 10 AM. We all hope the weather will cooperate and that the celebration can take place inside and outside of the building, with speeches, music and many patrons who have looked forward to this day, at long last.
In between now and then, we have quite a bit to accomplish. While Brennan Construction makes great progress every day, library staff are looking forward to getting into the building in order to set up the library and to prepare for the regular business of everyday library operations. Moving the collections, computers, work-stations, and ensuring that the SELCO catalog accurately reflects the whereabouts of each book, DVD, CD or magazine is a large undertaking. We have planned since before we moved to City Hall for the move back in, and the details are amazingly complex and dependent on everything coming together within the expected timeline. A delay in lights installation will cause a delay in ceiling install, which delays flooring installation, which delays the elevator re-certification, which delays moving shelving and books back into the building, which shortens our time to prepare for the opening. And that's just one critical path among several! We all strive to not stress out too much about things beyond our control, while at the same time pushing hard on the things that ARE within our control. And as we prepare for the actual move-in and opening, the Friends of the Library had been planning the celebration of the grand opening, which has been a tremendous help in anticipation of the big day.
Many City staff have been and will be instrumental in assisting us in the move from City Hall to the library, and from our storage facility in Dundas back to the library. (We suspect City Hall office folks are looking forward to the upcoming peace and quiet after we leave!) It has been a great eight month residence at City Hall for library staff, but we are looking forward to our new, old digs at 210 Washington.