Music Library Organization

As you might know if you've followed along at any frequency, I am one of the music librarians for the music program here at Northwest. I love it because it's all about staying organized and being on top of things, and a lot of things are self-guided and work-alone sorts of deals. Before break (and for a very long time before that), the music library looked like this:

The shelves that are visible are only about a quarter of what was in there. It wrapped all around the room! There were also lots (10+) of file cabinets off to the right in this picture. They were filled with music too. 

Just for a point of reference, the orange folders you see here are marching band music. The small ones near the bottom wrap around half the room in a double layer. They are the older pieces. The larger ones are more recent songs. The white music (much of which is hiding) is for concert band. The entire right side of the room (where you see the change in bookshelves at the edge of the picture) is choir music. Everything in the foreground is for sorting or putting away. 

In short, it was pretty crazy in there. A good crazy, but sometimes a head-scratching sort of crazy.

Things got crazier when we had to move everything out so that a new organizational system could be installed. There was lots of help, and it went as smoothly as could be expected, but when you're moving a whole library and trying to keep it in order, it gets nuts! During finals week, the installation crew began work on putting in the new system. The coolest part of this was that it meant that when I got back from break, the new room was like a great delayed Christmas gift! ("Here! Have some fancy new shelving to keep everything organized!")

So now, the room looks like this:

Lots of shelves got torn out, and now these lovely things go all the way across the back! These things hold TONS of music! All of the marching band music alone only fills one and a half sides of a unit! They are also pretty fun to roll back and forth, too, if we're honest. When I have shown them to people, they have been compared to the Jedi Library or Indiana Jones.

Well, that is my brief update on library things. We're still in the process of moving back in and figuring out new uses for the remaining shelving. Right now it's helpful for sorting things, but we'll see what becomes of it.