INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

For Immediate Release May 18, 2001 For More Information Contact: Diane Brown, (317) 274-7711 habrown@iupui.edu

MAMMOTH TASK OF MOVING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BOOKS UNDERWAY; LAW LIBRARY SET TO REOPEN MAY 29

INDIANAPOLIS - What do you call the task of moving approximately 350,000 hardback books, and another 150,000 titles reproduced on almost 70 tons of microfiche and microfilm?

"Overwhelming," says James Bailey, IU School of Law-Indianapolis professor and director of the law school's library. "It's a little bit intimidating. But we have some excellent movers."

With the hired help of New York-based National Library Relocations, Bailey and his full-time staff of 19 are moving the law library on the campus of IUPUI to a new home. The new three-story Ruth Lilly Law Library occupies the east section of the Lawrence W. Inlow Hall, the recently constructed law school building on the corner of West and New York streets.

As of noon May 17, the move was running ahead of scheduled with about 61 percent of the task completed, said Relocations project manager Mike Sutton.

The job of making sure all the books are moved, accounted for and end up on the right shelves in the new library "starts before you ever move a book," Sutton said.

Every cart of books moved - 500 cartloads to the third floor alone - is identified with duplicate color-coded labels that serve as guides for reshelving.

For months prior to the move, four campus librarians spent two to three hours daily drawing the hundreds of elevation plans that are being used as guides for re-shelving the periodicals on the second floor.

"It's different from moving a house or a business," Bailey said. "You want to make sure everything gets put back on the right shelf."

The library, which has been closed since May 7, is scheduled to reopen for business May 29.

Students across the IU system, along with students from other Indiana universities, area attorneys and Indianapolis residents use the library's vast collection. Law students from around the country also have access to the library through a loan system encompassing the library holdings of 180 accredited U.S. law schools.

Once the old library shelves at 735 W. New York Street are cleaned out, library workers still have to move another 30,000 volumes - including copies of the Nuremberg trial papers - that, due to shelf shortage, have been stored in a climate-controlled warehouse in Warsaw, Ind.

"We will pick a cool weekend this fall and move those volumes," Bailey said.

###

Return to IUPUI Home