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CCC books trading spaces

James Tyson, left, reaches to the top shelf Wednesday as he boxes books that will be taken to the new library later in the week. Also helping were TRiO employees at the college Tara Grant, right, and Carolyn Rogers, background. Photo: Eric Kluth.

Usually when books disappear off the shelves of a library, it is because they are being checked out.

But at the Clovis Community College’s library, even the shelves are disappearing.

“We’re beginning to move into the new library,” said Dick Smith, interim director of marketing.

Deborah Anderson, library director, said 60,000 books will have been moved when it is all over. “We’re busily packing as we speak,” she said Tuesday.

“We’ll be moving starting Friday.”

The process involves pulling books off shelves and placing them in boxes, then dismantling the shelves and taking them to the new facility. The shelves will be put back together, ready for the books when they finally make the move.

“We’ll have 3,500-4,000 boxes to be moved, as well as the shelving,” Smith said.

Anderson said volunteers have offered days, half days and entire weeks to help with the moving.

A potential complication for the move is that this is finals week at the college. While operations at the library tend to slow down during finals week, that doesn’t mean everything goes silent.

“Our reference collection will be the last thing we pack,” Anderson said. “That, and our nursing books.”

Items in the collection that are least used will be boxed first.

Christmas break is a good time for the move. The new facility will not open to students until the beginning of the spring semester, on Jan. 12. “We should have everything unpacked and in order,” she said.

“The old place is just too small,” she said. “We have outgrown it. We don’t have room for as many student computers, and the nursing students don’t have room for group study.”

With the closing of the old, 8,000-square-foot facility will come the opening of the new, 28,358-square-foot facility, to be named after Dr. Walter D. Dabbs. “We’ll have five large group study rooms and five small ones. Students will be able to study in groups of up to 15,” she said.

In the information commons, near the circulation desk, will be 20 computers that will be made available to students. They will be able to access the library’s index, do research, write their papers and print them out on library equipment.

The facility will also eventually house a cybercafé, as well as a computer classroom, conference room and, of course, restrooms.

But that all has to wait until the contents of the old library are moved to the new facility. Beginning Friday, Anderson said, “we’ll be loading boxes on trucks and trailers.”

With college personnel joined by volunteers, there should be 30 to 40 people helping on Friday, she said.