It’s an exciting time for the library! We are preparing to upgrade the shelving in our archival collections area. The new shelves are a much-needed improvement which will increase our storage capacity by 65%! This upgrade will ensure our ability to continue collecting historic documents, photos, maps, videos, and music of Schenectady County.
Installation is scheduled for mid-November, so we’ve spent the summer and early fall preparing, including inventorying collections, rehousing materials, and stabilizing fragile materials. The next step in our preparations is to move approximately 860 linear feet of archival materials from the vault into the library research room to make space for the new storage system and keep the materials safe during the installation. Once the materials are safely moved, we can remove the old storage shelves and prepare the vault for installation. After the installation, we can return the materials to the vault. Because the archival materials will take up all of the available space in the research room, the library will be closed to the public starting October 10th. The library will reopen December 12th.
We've started moving the boxes from the vault up to the library research room. All available space on the shelves, tables, and floor will be used for temporary storage.
