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If you visit Mifflin County Library in Lewistown, you will see me "in the stacks." That's library lingo for hanging out in between the bookcases.
On Oct. 3, I wrote a little bit about the bookcases we will purchase for the brand new North Wing, that we are hoping to house 14,000 books there, and that we will have "moving parties." If you want more information about our moving parties, please subscribe to our newsletter. The link to that is found on the library's website or just email "subscribe" to newsletter@mifflincountylibrary.org.
To be sure, 14,000 books is a lot of books. And it's books that we already have plus new books that are coming in everyday. Over the last 32 years of my library career, I've moved books quite often. And every time it seems that I either come up with too many bookshelves leftover or not enough book shelves and I have to shift. This time, it's going to be different. Because 14,000 books is, let me just say it again, a lot of books.
I'm working on a plan. And in my head, it sounds very doable. I will have a list of which books will go on which shelves. I even made a map. Because we can't say, "let's put 23 books on each book shelf." You may think that's a great idea but what if a book is checked out? Or what if you are working on the shelf of a very popular author and most of those books are checked out at the same time? There's a lot to think about when you are moving.
At the library, this moving gig isn't just moving the adult fiction books from one wing of the library to another wing. Once the adult fiction books are removed from the East Wing, then that wing will be empty. We will also need to move the nonfiction books and biographies out of storage and put them on the shelves.
Don't worry. I'm finished with that plan and that map. My second biggest worry, after the fiction collection, is the Large Print books collection. The Large Print collection for Lewistown is about 4,380 books. If you've visited MCL in Lewistown, you'll see that the entire collection is housed in the two small conference rooms in the back of the East Wing. Library staff started 2026 with the best intentions of keeping this collection in as close to alphabetical order as possible.
Ten months later, it's just a hot mess. Let's keep in mind my motto: "Slow and steady wins the race." This is from my favorite Aesop fable "The Tortoise and the Hare." That motto has served me well and it will again.
The library board approved the purchase of the new bookcases for the North Wing and so I placed the order at the end of September thinking that they would not ship for 12-16 weeks. Especially the end panels, the sides of the bookcases. These pieces were set to be custom-made and there are 26 of them. When I placed the order, I kept my fingers crossed that they would arrive by Christmas.
They were made and shipped on Oct. 6. You may visit the library and see boxes everywhere. We will love our library when everything is finished.
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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. You can call the library at (717) 242-2391. Kish Library's phone number is (717) 935-2880. Visit the library website at www.mifflincountylibrary.org.