Books are Heavy!

May 5, 2008 11:52 AM

What's the easiest way for a person to move a bunch of books by herself?

Ah, the joys of remodeling...

I have a pretty large classroom library (aproximately 1000 books) that has to be moved to a different classroom for about two weeks because my classroom will be under construction; the books will then have to be moved back again, so that the next classroom can be remodeled. About two weeks after that, school will end and the books will have to be moved again - this time to my home for summer storage. To complicate things a bit, I need all of these books to be readily accessible to my students during the whole process.

Is there a product or technique you can share with me that would make this process easier than, say, moving the books in boxes, taking them out of boxes, re-boxing them to move them again, unpacking them again, and finally re-packing them once more for summer storage?

posted by Edelweiss to home & garden (18 comments total)

Do you have any wheeled carts? Stack the books on those and wheel them around (while in the school).

Other than that, xerox box size boxes are the best way (in my experience) to move lots of books without killing yourself. Bigger boxes than that lead to pain and smaller boxes are useless.
posted by sperose at 12:13 PM on May 5

It might not be a bad idea to check with your school's physical plant to see if they have a pallet jack. All your books could fit on one or two pallets and be moved by one person wherever they needed to go. When the kids finished using the books, they could just place them back on the pallet and they'd be ready to move again.

Hope this helps!
posted by stuboo at 12:14 PM on May 5

Does your school have book trolleys that you can borrow? The wheels would make the weight of the books less of an issue. If not, perhaps you can convince the administrators to invest in some as they seem like they'd be useful for the future and for other teachers like yourself.

If you were to go with trolleys, you might consider using a ramp to wheel them up to the trunk of a van/moving truck. Then, once they are inside, secure them by tying the trolleys to the insides of the vehicle. (This tip comes courtesy of helping roommates and friends move over the past 5 years of university.)
posted by catburger at 12:14 PM on May 5

If you don't care how the temporary libraries look, you can leave the books in the boxes and use the boxes as temporary bookshelves. In other words, put the books in the boxes spine-up, and then once you've moved them, stack the boxes on their side with the open-end facing out, so that the books end up upright. As long as the boxes are sturdy enough and a minimal number of books is in each box, it should be sturdy enough. Sorry if that sounded confusing. That should save you time on unpacking and re-packing. Although 1000 books are a lot, so the boxes may end up taking up too much space.

The other thing, if you let your students borrow the books, is to have every student (not just in your class, but perhaps all over the school) take some books home overnight and return them the next day in the new room. (This idea is from a book I read as a kid.)
posted by EatenByAGrue at 12:19 PM on May 5

Nth the bookcart idea. If you use xerox-size boxes, be sure to reinforce the bottoms--at minimum, a couple pieces of packing tape along the full length of the bottom seams.

And if you anticipate doing this regularly, you might wish to acquire post-office bins or milk crates (that's what I use personally), or plastic Rubbermaid-type tubs (that's what my library system uses), either of which will be much, much more durable than the bankers boxes.
posted by box at 12:19 PM on May 5

i have always gathered all the plastic bags that nearly everyone has too many of and group subject/authors together. the bags are much easier to move back and forth (especially if you won't have anyone else to help move them) as they are not big enough to overstuff. i'd recommend double bagging them. as far as organizing them during this whole process? no spectacular ideas are coming to mind. good luck!
posted by ms.jones at 12:20 PM on May 5

You could also use spare rolling luggage. No worries about broken, wet, or otherwise damaged boxes. Less lifting overall. I use a foldable dolly during the summers to transfer 20+ boxes of books to classrooms every week. However, stacks of boxed books sometimes topple if I'm not rolling carefully enough.
posted by inconsequentialist at 12:24 PM on May 5

You can also stack 10-20 books and tie them with twine (bday gift style, bow on top), which gives you both visibility and a handle to carry each stack. It's not great for longterm storage but good for quick and easy moves.
posted by judith at 12:26 PM on May 5

This probably won't help you now, but many Thomas Jefferson's book shelves consisted of a series of stacked wooden boxes. These boxes were open on one side; when used as shelves, they were stacked so that the open side was to the front, and they look just like regular (but very nice) wooden shelves. When he wanted to move his books, though, he just had to pick up the top "shelf" and tip it back -- voila, a (very nice) wooden crate, open on top.

If you could find some boxes that were rigid enough to be stackable as shelves, you could use this method now -- you'd have to pack the books initially, of course, but once they're in there, you could move the crate/box/shelves with impunity!
posted by amtho at 12:26 PM on May 5

This may not be the most efficient way to do this, but on the off chance it helps, here is my secret moving plan of 2007.

Firstly, I had a whole heap of books at my house. I had to move from my one bedroom because they took up too much space. I wanted not to have to weave through hip-high stacks of books. I found an apartment about three miles away that would have a spare room I could make into a book room. Sweet! There was just one problem - I had to move the books first. And my furniture and things, of course, but let us all face it; books are more important than chairs and tables.

But I was unwilling to ask all my friends move an 700+ book collection. For one thing, most of them don't live in my town. For another, I thought they might mutiny. It had to be a solo operation.

So I went to the local big box vendor and bought several of these. I note they have gotten far more expensive than they were when I bought them, but they are pretty sturdy, except for one point I'll make in a moment.

I loaded them up with books, rolled them down to my Jeep, unloaded the books into the Jeep. Then when the Jeep was full (roughly two hundred books will fill a Cherokee up to the front seats) I drove it over to the new apartment and reversed the process.

It sounds like this might work for you. One note: the wheels on those things are somewhat fragile when they're stacked to the handle with books. If you have to bump it fully loaded up and down stairs the wheels will probably crack off, but the baskets slide pretty well even after they have been de-wheeled.
posted by winna at 12:27 PM on May 5 [1 favorite]

I recently moved about 2500 books from one floor to another (via the elevator, of course) for a remodel project in an office. Three weeks later, we moved them back. I tried a big rolling cart - it worked ok. What really worked was a hand truck.

They make a type specifically for books but you don't need that kind - just use a regular one. Duct tape some cardboard onto the frame to keep the books from sliding back through the bars. We moved about 40 books per truck (more or less what we'd fit in a box). With four trucks and a few able bodies, we had the whole library moved in half a day.

Best of all, if you pay attention and stack the books the same way each time, when you get to the destination, they come off the truck in the same order that they went on.
posted by gyusan at 12:39 PM on May 5

You may want to look into these. Specifically, the book crates.

They are rugged boxes that can also be stacked sturdily to about three high, and can serve double duty as boxes and shelves.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 1:31 PM on May 5

I vote for the paper (Xerox) boxes. If you have a Kinkos or other copy place you can get them free. You can't overload them. (Unless you have National Geographic or Wired magazines!) and they can break down and be recycled or reused. We moved 50 + boxes of books this way the last time we moved. Worked great, had magazines, soft cover and hard cover books of all sizes. Try to put them in in order and label the boxes so that you can get them out again in order.

wife of 445supermag
posted by 445supermag at 2:01 PM on May 5

Don't do anything your students can do. Many hands make light work! Just get them running back and forth, carrying the books in their correct order, from the first class to the second.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:07 PM on May 5

Make it a classroom activity!
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:24 PM on May 5

Great ideas here. Thanks, everyone!
posted by Edelweiss at 3:36 PM on May 5

Stop!!! Don't move things twice, If you are close to any of New Haven's warehouse's or any other moving supply outlet you can rent one of these. Negotiate the price - save your back. http://www.newhaven-usa.com/rent-carts.cfm
posted by pianomover at 7:22 PM on May 5

All good ideas . . . but wait: Doesn't this seem crazy? Why can't they wait until school is over to do all this disruption? Are you in a union? If so, call your representative. Chances are you can collectively call bullshit on all this disruption and let it occur when school is over and it isn't a hardship for you and your kids.
posted by gum at 9:30 PM on May 5