Give Us Your Advice On Packing Up A Library! by Shannon McClintock Miller

2026-05-09 19:32:23 UTC

Years ago when I had to pack up my library to get new carpet, I printed out a whole bunch of papers with blanks for starting call number and ending call number in each box. I taped this to the outside of the box, but you could also place the paper just inside the box. I also wrote on the outside of every box a number, so I would know which order to unpack them.

Lower back stretches

2026-05-13 13:53:13 UTC

Do some stretches before you start packing/unpacking books (or heaven forbid, lifting boxes!). You shouldn't be lifting too much at a time hopefully, but warming up those muscles will help prevent any injury from the repeated movements or just bad luck!

My physio had me doing at the very least 12-15 reps of childs pose arms outstretched moving into cobra pose, then 12-15x (on each side) of the thread-the-needle stretch.

lschwartz1 — 2026-05-13 14:01:14 UTC

I have packed up every library in Council Bluffs Schools over 17 years of renovations. I learned a lot after the first move! It is helpful to label the side of every box with a colored sheet of paper, not the top because they get stacked and then you can't read the labeling. I color coded every section of the library to have a different color for easy sorting of sections. ie. F, Picture Books, Graphic novels, etc... On the paper I put the call number section on that box and numbered them in order for that section. Don't make the boxes too heavy. You want to be able to lift and move easily into order once you know where they will go. It is helpful if you can put the books into the boxes with the call numbers up and put paper or stuffing to prevent a lot of movement. The movers can be pretty rough moving those boxes. If you can get the movers to place the boxes by color coding that is helpful on your body as well. Also make sure you have every numbered box in correct order before you start unloading. It is no fun to have to shift everything because you find a box of P's hiding under a table! Another thing we did which worked if you don't have to deal with stairs is to rent big moving carts, like giant book trucks because then you can just label and color code each cart and the books are in order from your old shelves to the new shelves without taping hundreds of boxes... We rented those from office supply companies who move corporate office buildings. They take some muscle to move, but I could move them at age 50 pretty well. :) I hope this helps, Shannon!

Grinnell advice

2026-05-13 14:06:36 UTC

After doing this several times, my #1 piece of advice is to make sure the people packing the boxes understand how important it is to keep the books exactly in order. Have a system for them, especially if books are going on top of one another in boxes. Even little shifts in dewey numbers take forever to untangle/unpack. Label the outside of the boxes clearly with call numbers--the whole range that's in the box (eg. 000-111.1). Color codes may help too--fiction is red, easy readers are blue, etc. Make sure the storage is in a climate-controlled, dry area so you don't open up moldy boxes in the fall. This is probably obvious, but make sure boxes stay a manageable size/weight so they can be moved. Weed what you can before you start packing. Don't move stuff you don't need to. Take pictures before you take books off the shelves. Even if they're going on new shelves, this will give you vague ideas for spacing etc. when they go back on. Pace yourself and allow plenty of time for this. It takes an average of 2-3 days to pack up around 10,000 books, in my experience, with 1-3 helpers.

Same, girl, same

2026-05-13 14:23:29 UTC

I'm in the process of doing it right now and it is a BEAST. I've gotten pretty scientific about it, because I'm also genrefying in Follett (already genrefied on the shelves) and doing my inventory after a thorough weeding. Our system gave us boxes, but they're pretty large; if yours are too big, see if you can talk to your school or other schools about book fair or copy paper boxes.

I stack books eight or so to a stack in groups of three. Three stacks go into each box. This is probably pretty light for any workers storing them, but I'm thinking of myself and any kid helpers in the fall! I label all sides of the box with Aerie, which is the name of my library, and I write the genre and the range of books inside at the top, along with Aerie. Some books take up an entire box, like the Percy Jackson books, and I'll just label that series on top.

I leave one box for each genre open as books are still being returned.

I pretty much follow this for every section of the library: maker space, game room, AV stuff, desk materials. I'm also bringing a box home with me over the summer of things that need to be cataloged or books that need to be repaired. I don't have time to deal with that right now and it'll give me something to do on hot summer days. :)

Good luck!

Planning Tips

2026-05-13 14:34:27 UTC

After boxing five libraries for remodeling/moving, here are my biggest tips.

Total the linear feet of each collection/genre before boxing. These numbers will help you plan where each genre will fit in your new space. Record the tallest books in each collection to help you determine shelf clearance/spacing of the new shelves.
Color-code your new layout (easy red, NF green, etc). Number the boxes with the corresponding color in addition to the first/last call number in the box. Then, boxes can be stacked in the new space by color and number for quicker unloading. Custodians understand numbers and colors much better than call number ranges when they are using dollies to move your boxes into your new space.
Weed and relabel ahead of time. The year before a move, consider aggressively weeding the collection. Also consider relabeling, for example, maybe you want to shelve narrative NF together in your new space. Pull, relabel, and box them together.
Go into it with excitement, but also a flexible mindset.

Canva Label

2026-05-13 16:46:28 UTC

https://canva.link/vpl7tfwhen3qlty

I made a label to help with box labels. Feel free to use or modify to your needs.