Yes, it is. I think it was 104 degrees warm yesterday (7/22/2011). But is is nice and cool in the Ivy Stacks where I and several colleagues have been training the past week on the GFA Library Archival System under the gracious tutelage of Chris Brennan. It began with an avalanche (think cool thoughts) of information but in the end everyone seemed to get the hang of it. We'll find out soon.
So the construction is finished and the Xtend High Bay Mobile Shelving System is quite impressive. It has even attracted the attention of the University's Public Affairs Office. Check it out-- http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=15521.
I have a fantasy that we will be able to move 6000 items/day from boxes to trays to shelves. A more realistic goal might be about 5000/day. But even during training, with all the interruptions to learn the workflow and ask questions we were able to move over 3500 items/day, so that seems promising to me. We are going to try to retrieve materials from Ivy as they are accessioned into their new home. We'll see how that works out. The goal remains to have everything in place by January 2012. Yet another path paved with good intentions.
In the meantime I have to make sure we have enough trays on hand, barcodes (I still haven't ordered the shelf location labels yet), a workable delivery schedule to get materials delivered from the warehouse in Orange, to the processing centers at Linen Ave. and Alderman Library, then off to Ivy, and no doubt other concerns of extreme importance are not occurring to me right now. Like how to recycle 50,000 cardboard boxes and over 1000 wood pallets (but thankfully not all at once). And...more stuff I'm sure. Fortunately there are a lot of good people contributing to the success of the project. Ummmmm...so far so good.
