William B. Meyer’s Library Relocation Team combines innovation in logistics with new technologies to safeguard, optimize and relocate valuable collections and library content.  MEYER Library Relocation offers expert project management and services for one-time library moves or longer-term renovation projects. Our services extend past our top-notch moving experience to include climate-controlled depository storage for long-term off-site storage solutions, and consulting services and technology for clients interested in self-owned facilities.  Watch our video to learn more.

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The decision to become a certified service provider for the MHEC comes as a natural evolution of William B. Meyer’s current and past work in the educational community. Leslie Barton, Business Development Manager for William B. Meyer, spearheaded the contract for MHEC, “Inclusion in MHEC means access to universities and schools throughout Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. We are perfectly located to bring our past experience, expertise, and services to all of these universities.”

It is William B. Meyer’s diverse business lines which set it apart from other MHEC providers. Ted Kennedy, Vice President of Sales for William B. Meyer, foresees a rewarding partnership with MHEC. “Unlike most providers of move services, William B. Meyer can offer consolidated solutions across different business lines.  We are an umbrella company that universities can come to for relocation needs ranging from moving a laboratory, classroom or library, to relocation services for faculty and staff.”  In choosing William B. Meyer, MHEC members can streamline all of their transportation and relocation needs, while benefiting from cost-savings that can come from consolidation of vendors.

Click here to download a PDF of this release!

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At ALA annual conference being held June 21-26 in Anaheim, William B. Meyer, Inc. will be presenting a round table session to help educate library leaders from across the United States about the creative uses of technology to ease the library transition process.

Ted Kennedy, Vice President of Sales at William B. Meyer, Inc, is the moderator who will be leading the Exhibitor Round Table (ERT) “LIBRARIES IN TRANSITION: USING TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR BEST ADVANTAGE“ that will be held Sunday, June 24, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Hilton Anaheim in room Pacific B.

“With new trends in library layout, storage, and digital options we want to educate people on the technology that is available to help with new aspects of library relocation,” said Kennedy. “We are encouraging people with these challenges to attend so we can help ease the stress of the relocation project and educate them on the technology that is available.”

Frank Shiboski, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of William B. Meyer, Inc., is one of the speakers at this Round Table session at the ALA conference. In addition to Frank Shiboski, the session will feature the following panel of experts who are well-versed in how to successfully utilize the latest technologies to manage library transition projects:

• Catherine Willis, Technical Services Manager, Boston Public Library
• Dave Borycz, Special Projects Librarian, University of Chicago
• Kornelia Tancheva,  Director, Olin and Uris Libraries  Cornell University
• Todd Hunter, HK Systems

The information that William B. Meyer, Inc. will present at this specialized ERT will be adaptable to all types of libraries, ranging from academic to public and federal to research institutions. Specialists who will find this information essential include leadership in many segments of library science including administration and management, buildings and facilities, institutional repositories and technology.

To learn more about our ERT go to: http://ala12.scheduler.ala.org/node/1316
To learn more about the ALA Conference visit their website at: http://alaannual.org/

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This is the challenge recently undertaken by the Boston Public Library with the relocation of materials from their Charlestown Service Building to their new, climate-controlled depository space in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.  Through careful planning and breaking the project into manageable phases, the Boston Public Library has successfully refurbished and efficiently moved a huge volume of once largely unknown materials into an environmentally controlled facility.  They have also succeeded in making the contents of this historical trove easily accessible to their patrons.

Climate-Controlled Storage:  To Own or Not To Own   

Many libraries today are facing the same question…whether to own or sub-contract the appropriate climate-controlled space required to store books, periodicals, and other materials.  The decision to build, or to outsource to a specialized provider of depository space, is based on inventory size, operational requirements, and of course financial considerations.   Given the sheer volume of materials and their multiple locations, the decision for the Boston Public Library to build their own depository space was an easy one.  After many years of planning, they converted a facility in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood  to a state of the art, temperature and humidity controlled, high density book depository, providing the best possible storage scenario.

Defining Project Scope

With the end destination a known factor, the Boston Public Library faced the prospect of identifying service providers who had the expertise and technical knowledge necessary to assist in this complex endeavor.

“There were three main components we had to take into consideration:  mold remediation, the physical move of the materials, and the technology component of not only providing a locator system, but one which was compatible with and able to upload to our existing catalog,” indicates Catherine Willis, Technical Services Manager for the Boston Public Library.  “We didn’t really expect to find all three capabilities with one service provider, although the hope is always to identify a turn-key solution.”

After an extensive specification and selection process, the MEYER Library Relocation Services division of William B. Meyer, Inc. was chosen to provide a complete solution to all three components of the project.  A natural fit for moving materials out of the Charlestown Service Building given their many years of specializing in library relocations, William B. Meyer, Inc. also managed the mold remediation process. In addition, the company is providing the technology that allows Boston Public Library to upload details of the Charlestown materials into their main catalog system.

Phase I:  Moving and Mold/Mildew Remediation

Books and documents housed for long periods of time in areas with little or no environmental controls are susceptible to mold, mildew, and pest infestation.  The materials in the Charlestown building had experienced such exposure, and it was necessary for them to undergo some form of cleaning process prior to being integrated with other collections in the new depository.

Following careful packing and palletizing and prior to their relocation, William B. Meyer, Inc. coordinated the efforts to have the books treated to eliminate any mold or mildew.  All materials were run through a procedure involving exposure to ethylene oxide (EO), a gas which quickly penetrates the densest of books and kills any microorganisms living within.  This process is highly efficient, safe, and cost-effective, and concludes with neutralization of any residual EO gas through an appropriate aeration process.

Phase II:  Efficient Storage through the use of Technology

With the Charlestown Service Building inventory now clean and on pallets in one wing of the depository, the Boston Public Library and William B. Meyer, Inc. embarked on Phase II of the project.

“Phase II of our project involved a few key initiatives,” Willis says.  “The first being that the depository space would be arranged based on Meyer’s high-density storage model utilizing their warehouse locator system.”

Using a high-density storage model, institutions such as the Boston Public Library can typically achieve an increase in shelving capacity of up to 40%.  The model makes use of size-based shelf elevations where volumes are scanned to specific locations, enabling materials to be shelved randomly by size, without sacrificing quick and efficient retrieval.  Coupled with an effective inventory locator system, this model also eliminates the shifting and interfiling challenges typically associated with shelving in call order.

Willis adds “In addition, because much of the early inventory at Charlestown had never been cataloged or may have been cataloged but not bar-coded, we asked that Meyer customize their program.  Upon their entering item information, an automatic search of our existing catalog is performed, with any matching records bar-coded and linked to the existing record.  Items not matched, essentially unknown inventory to us, are then recorded, automatically uploaded to the catalog and hence searchable.”

With a significant percentage of the original books, serials (periodicals. directories, newspapers, etc.), government documents,  and many folios  from the Charlestown location already having been processed into their depository space, Phase II of the project is right on target.  Based on careful planning on the part of the Boston Public Library, and their successful partnership with a flexible and technically advanced vendor such as William B. Meyer, Inc., all of these are now easily found and available to the public to enjoy for years to come.

For more information on the Boston Public Library, visit http://bpl.org.

To read this story on Libraryworks.com click here

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In a world dominated by technology; where more people know about hard drives than hard covers – libraries are carving out a new niche in their communities. Serving as public hot spots, where people ‘plug-in’ and socialize, it seems only fitting that technology is employed to keep a library running smoothly – even in times of disruption.
In this ever-changing economy, libraries are being challenged with the necessity of renovating, moving to a different location, or putting materials into storage…either at their own facility or at a commercial storage facility…where access is still required, but on a less frequent basis. More and more, libraries need to rely on their relocation partners to offer solutions which will not only get them through their short-term project, but prepare them also for longer term requirements.

Often the traditional method of tracking inventories before, during, and after a move is paper-based; physical print-outs from the library database being the only control mechanism. Unfortunately this provides little in the way of support in the case of missing or mis-shelved volumes, efficiently locating and retrieving those that may be in temporary or permanent storage, or providing detailed information on inventory in the case of branch openings, sales, or international shipments.

Library relocation specialists need to be prepared to utilize different technologies not only ensure the safe physical move of inventory, but also to provide the library with whom they are working full control and information through each stage of the project at a minimum, and after project completion if at all possible.

An example of one such technology solution has been developed by William B. Meyer, Inc., a premier library relocation specialist. Making use of hand-held scanners and a software interface customized to handle requirements specific to each project, each program is designed with a user-friendly interface providing library personnel with complete control over any transition regardless of size. Volumes are tracked throughout every aspect of a move, they are matched against existing library database records, and their location is accurately recorded and reflected at all times.

Hand-held scanners capture all pertinent information enabling full accountability for all inventory throughout all project phases

Applications clearly made possible through the use of technology solutions such as these are apparent for almost all project specifications:

1. Moving material into storage (either at your own facility or into commercial storage): by scanning materials at a shelf level, a validation file can be generated for use in updating the Library’s ILS as to which books will be in transit before they actually leave the premises. This will allow you to establish complete accountability from the time the material leaves the shelf to when it is finally located in a storage facility.
2. Setting up a warehouse locator system – Based on library space limitations, many academic institutions are faced with the need to create offsite storage locations to house low-use materials. Typically materials will be shelved at the storage site in call order. This system proves workable until a large deposit of material needs to be added to the stored collection at which point tedious interfiling is required to maintain shelf order. Further, as the storage facility begins to reach capacity, labor-intensive shifting becomes necessary to create enough shelf space to interfile. An inventory locator system offered by William B. Meyer has successfully been used to offer a lower cost-alternative by coupling their technology solution with a high-density storage model, allowing for an increase in shelving capacity of up to 40% and eliminating the need to ever interfile or shift collections. The model makes use of size-based shelf elevations where volumes are scanned to specific locations, enabling materials to be shelved randomly by size, without sacrificing quick and efficient retrieval.
3. Detailed inventory listing requirements: Detailed inventories often need to be generated for customs requirements related to international moving, or if certain collections are sold. In situations such as these where accountability is of principal concern, it important that your relocation specialist utilize the latest technology to generate customized reports including any selected data associated with a particular bar-coded item.
4. Opening Day Collections – When anticipating the delivery of a labeled and bar-coded opening day collection, the delivery verification process can be simplified by scanning each item as it is unpacked from its shipping container. At the conclusion of the process, validation files can then be generated which will identify all items that were received and an exceptions list of items that were not received.

Change is always difficult, but when approached with the right view – it can provide endless opportunities for growth and improvement. Let your move open doors for you. Use it to market the new innovations you are adopting, and the benefits of the relocation. Not every mover can move a library and help you successfully take advantage of these opportunities. Be selective and find someone who can.

Look for a specialist who will consult with you pre-move to identify cost saving alternatives, determine your scope and timeline, and develop a detailed relocation plan. Perhaps more importantly, your moving specialist should be able to work with your staff to help them adapt to the process. They should be readily available before, during and after to guarantee all expectations are met. Finally, the specialist you choose should be up to date with the latest tools available. Moving is hard enough, make sure you’re not missing any pieces that could help facilitate the process!
In today’s world, microwave meals take too long, and people are used to information being instantly available. By choosing a mover that offers innovative, high tech solutions, your patrons will recognize and appreciate the efficiency with which you have managed their library’s transition. Keep your edge by knowing what’s out there and taking advantage of every resource available.

You can also read the article at Libraryworks.com

(May 2010) ©LibraryScope

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Since 1982, William B. Meyer, Inc. has relocated over 1,000 libraries all over the United States. The largest of those moves was the Los Angeles Public Library with over three million volumes. Just to tickle your imagination, that’s over fifty-six miles of books if they were laid end to end. Their clients range from Yale University; Harvard School of Business; Cornell Law School; Salt Lake City Public Library; United States Department of Energy; Folger Shakespeare Library to, one of the oldest independent collections in the country, the Boston Athenaeum. This Spring and Summer, the library relocation and management team will be coordinating their services at the Cambridge Public Library; Utah State University; Lehigh University; Allan Hancock College; Rhodes College; University of Delaware; Sacred Heart University, CT; Rancho Mirage Public Library, California…among others.

William B. Meyer has successfully developed and introduced an advanced Bar-Code Scanning Technology System within its Library Relocation Division. This technology consists of a scanning system that can manage inventory accurately; identify where a bar-coded item is when it is moved and even provide a physical inventory of either a specific shelf location or an entire collection. Clients are provided with a fully functional locator system that identifies and manages the movement and location of any book within an entire collection.

The uses for the William B. Meyer Scanning Technology System range from maintaining inventory; recording when items are moved from their current location and identifying where a barcode is when it is moved to a new locale. Reports can be generated using the transaction database to identify unbalanced transactions; detailed inventory; transaction history; unknown and unlocated barcodes; titles; call numbers and more.

This unparalleled technology breakthrough is supported with training classes for library staff and William B. Meyer’s internal technology group and can be customized to particular specifications. Even more impressive is that all of this technology is hand-held on a Palm Pilot system.

William B. Meyer, Inc. is a diverse, fourth generation family-owned company enjoying its 90th year in the transportation industry. Known for their innovative solutions to relocation and logistic needs, William B. Meyer’s areas of expertise are vast. They range from household and commercial moving; office interiors; library relocation; order fulfillment; home delivery; records management and courier services to rigging. William B. Meyer, Inc. is headquartered in Stratford, Connecticut. For more information about William B. Meyer, Inc., go to www.williambmeyer.com, where, “For every move there is a new beginning.”

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