Lister Hill Letter
Newsletter of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences at UAB

January/February 1998

Library Collection Reunited

After almost ten years of separation, the Lister Hill Library family is finally being reunited.  In January the Library staff and Armstrong Relocation began the process of bringing back to the Library the books and journals that were stored in the basement of the UAB Administration Building.  First to come home were the books.  Located at the end of the main book collection, these titles range in date from the late 1700's to 1949.  Naturally, many of these titles are brittle and fragile.  Therefore, whether a title can be checked out or not will depend on its condition.

The journal volumes are in the basement compact storage area.  The Collection Access staff has been very busy shifting the 1980 volumes up to the ground floor to make room for the older volumes.  To move this material, Armstrong brought a van, 16 book carts (they call them gondolas), plastic mats to protect the lobby floor of the Administration Building and lots of heavy-duty siran wrap.  The books and journals were loaded on the carts, the carts were wrapped in the siran wrap, loaded on the van, brought to the Library, rolled of the van on to the loading dock at the back of the Library, and placed on the proper shelf.  The books, 1140 linear feet, were moved in two days, but it took a couple of weeks for the journals to make the trip.

The Library staff is happy to have all of our collection under one roof again.  I know many of our patrons will be pleased that they no longer must fill out a form to obtain the materials needed for their research.