The process of moving books from Lemonnier Library (Bond Hall) to the new Memorial Library (Hesburgh Library) began on August 5, 1963, almost a month prior to the Memorial Library’s scheduled September 3 opening. Newspapers across the United States covered the first day of moving with headlines such as “20 Miles of Books are Being Moved into New N.D. Library” [Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne)] and “Beer Cases Get Booking at Library” [Pittsburgh Press].
Library Director Victor Schaefer said "sturdy beer cases were known by libraries as the best containers for moving large quantities of books.” According to American Brewer, J. P. Loss, Carling Brewing Company’s director of Industrial Engineering contributed 2,800 Carling Black Label Beer cases to help with the task. Schaefer and Loss spent more than a year planning and preparing the project.
The true number is speculative but records say that nearly half a million books were moved to the new structure a half mile away. Supervised by eight professional librarians, sixteen students began by packing 30,000 volumes. They used conveyors to move the packed cases onto moving vans and made the trek across campus. The students repacked case after case and repeated this process over the next 15 days until the books and volumes filled 20 miles of shelves in the new Memorial Library.
Experience 50 Milestones through the life of the Hesburgh Library!
Like Hesburgh Libraries on Facebook and follow @NDLibraries on Twitter.
