Planning a major shift of a library collection is not as complex as it is tedious. Careful measurement and excruciating attention to detail will almost always guarantee success. If your shift is large (lots of books, or lots of moving parts), I recommend that your plans be very thoroughly documented, widely shared, and each step of your plan be followed precisely. Smaller shifts can ooze from one step to another, combine steps, etc., because there are fewer things to forget.

The basic steps of a shift are:

• get an overview of the current and proposed configurations, and of the Lib. Administration's goals/plans for the shift
• set up the planning team, begin the To Do list (the master plan)
• measure current collection and count current shelves
• count the number of new shelves being added to the collection
• decide if growth space is to be distributed evenly throughout collection
• calculate fill rate of shelves
• do a paper shift.
• determine the maximum number of simultaneous shifts you want (based on # shifters, # booktrucks, amount of time to complete shift)
• give Library Administration an overview of the phases of the shift, etc., and be sure you're aiming in the direction they want
• tell library staff what's up
• if library will be open during shift, set plans and publicity
• make maps of shift areas and paths between them, if you find it necessary.
• prepare shifting supplies
• make a timeline
• test-run a shift: calculate travel time/shift time (sections/hour)
• train shifters
• monitor shifting/make end cards for ranges
• fix the mistakes
• monitor shifting some more
• fix the mistakes some more
• move ranges, if necessary
• about half way through, remeasure remaining collection, recount remaining shelves, and re-do a paper shift based on new information.
• remedy fill rates
• as each mini-shift gets close to being done, remeasure remaining collection/recount remaining shelves and adjust your fill rate. It's ok to leave some empty sections at the end of a mini-shift: it's not ok to have some left-over books. Start reducing (drastically, if necessary) your growth rate per shelf.
• finish shifting
• revise public information: maps, information screens, pamphlets, range markers, etc.
• provide closure for the shift participants.

(Lessons learned, experiences from other libraries, other resources, comments, Knight Library shift stats and description)

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Last substantive update: 970506

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