Boxing Know-How

Since I've been involved in projects like this before, I already had some boxing guidelines written. I tweaked them for this particular project and was soon ready to share them with the rest of the staff. I gave everyone a copy of the written guidelines and also went over how to pack a box and label it during a staff meeting. I will go over this again tomorrow before we start boxing as a refresher and because all our new staff will be arriving tomorrow to help us box up the old collection.

My current guidelines state that you pack all material flat, not spine up or down, and you pack every box fully so it can support the weight of other boxes on top of it. I have always placed two labels on each box: one on a top corner and the other on an adjacent side corner. I was re-reading an article by Janet Hofstetter in the Jan/Feb 1993 issue of Book Report though that suggested putting labels on 2 adjacent sides rather than on the top and on the side. Either way would work as long as you have 2 labels and they are in the same place on all boxes. Another tip from that same article was to stack boxes so the numbers are facing the handle of the hand truck. That way the numbers will face forward when they are unloaded against a wall or another stack of books.

I already knew to mark the shelves with where each collection should begin, but I got the following tips from Meg Van Patten at the Baldwinsville Public Library (NY) from her post on the PUBLIB discussion list.
Have staff members at the new building direct movers to stack boxes near where the material will be shelved.
Post large signs on the end-of-stacks to show where various sections will be shelved.
Have copies of the floor plan [and shelving allocations] posted at the old and new buildings.
Mark each shelf to show how far to fill it before moving to the next shelf when re-shelving the collection.
Use painter's tape or post-it notes to mark shelves instead of labels or scotch tape so no residue is left when markers are removed.