For someone who whines and complains every time I switch apartments, I’m fascinated by what it must take to move the Seattle Central Library to its new building.
It was the biggest word problem the Seattle Public Library had ever faced:
If the Central Library housed 855,840 items, and they weighed around 14,000 tons, how could they be moved out of the old building in 2001, separated and stored for years, reshuffled into an entirely new order, and moved into a landmark new building?
The logistics of the double-move seemed unfathomable. Most people were convinced the splashy new Central Library, scheduled to open May 23, couldn’t be built on the same site as the old one.
“She’s crazy” is the chorus City Librarian Deborah Jacobs remembers when she broached the plan.
But now, book by book, waist-high packing box by waist-high packing box, the freightloads of the final move are under way.
I pass by the new library building every night on my way home from work, and I was excited to notice a couple weeks ago that, even though interior construction still seems to be in progress, books were starting to line the shelves visible through the windows.
I’ve taken a couple evening walks by the library, getting off my bus a couple of stops earlier than I normally do so that I could walk by the new building once I noticed that construction had moved to a point where the sidewalks around the building were open again. I’d already decided that I liked the design, but at night, it’s absolutely gorgeous, with all the odd angles picking up reflections of sky and stars above, other buildings across downtown, and traffic streaming by on the streets below. Really makes me wish I had a new camera.
Just a few more weeks until the new library opens, and I’m hoping to be able to stop by on opening day just to wander around. The funny thing is, I’m not entirely sure now much I’ll actually use the library — they always have this funny habit of wanting their books back, something I have deep issues with. ;)
iTunes: “Girl” by Amos, Tori from the album Little Earthquakes (1991, 4:07).