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There and Back Again (Almost) 
One Library’s Staff’s Journey through a Major 
Construction Project
Mandy Deen, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Timothy Lincoln, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
David Schmersal, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Kristy Sorensen, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
John Vinke, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

ABSTR AC T Library renovation caused the staff of Austin Presby-
terian Theological Seminary to plan a move of library services to a 
temporary location. The staff selected a subset of books to remain 
available to users; 90,000 volumes were placed in storage. Records 
for unavailable volumes were suppressed so that users would only 
see information about books available to them. The staff chose 
6,000 books for a temporary library, based on faculty needs and 
past usage. Books were moved in January 2020. Staff were continu-
ously involved in refining design and furniture decisions during 
the construction process, scheduled for completion in September 
2021. The new Wright Learning and Information Center will feature 
a large collaborative space and a digital learning center. Lessons 
learned include the necessity for constant communication among 
staff members and keeping in mind that users want normal library 
services, despite the disruptions of a construction project.

Presenters from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary shared 
their experience as a staff in providing library services while the 
seminary’s library building was thoroughly renovated to become the 
Mary B. and Robert J. Wright Learning and Information Center. Plan-
ning for library renovation started with focus groups in 2009 to deter-
mine strengths and weaknesses of the current building. Early on the 
decision was made to design a building with a larger footprint for 
users and a smaller footprint for print materials. It was also decided 
to renovate the 1950 historic building but tear down and replace 
the 1978 addition. In anticipation of construction, staff thoroughly 
weeded the collection over several years. During construction, some 
90,000 volumes were placed in storage; 6,000 volumes were avail-



Listen and Learn Sessions  387

able to users via paging. Many linear yards of library shelving were 
dismantled and stored for reuse. A temporary service point was set 
up in another building on campus. Austin Seminary users also had 
access to books in the collection of the Booher Library of the Semi-
nary of the Southwest, a few blocks away.

How did construction affect staff work? Access and instruc-
tion librarian David Schmersal took the lead in determining which 
volumes to include in the pageable collection. He chose books based 
on their past circulation history (five years), course projections, and 
the availability of the book in the Booher Library. A few classic texts 
(e.g., Summa Theologiae) were also included. Books for the mini-
collection were identified and then moved to a separate part of the 
library until they were moved to their temporary locations. Profes-
sional movers moved books to the temporary library and remote 
storage in January 2020.

Systems and metadata librarian John Vinke suppressed records 
for books in storage so that users were not tempted by seeing titles 
that were unavailable to them. He discovered some quirks in the 
interaction of the online catalog and the discovery layer. The goal 
was to minimize user frustration. Because of the pandemic, the staff 
ramped up purchases of e-books.

Learning technologies librarian Mandy Deen was involved in 
the necessary work of moving materials out of the building before 
construction. As it happened, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the 
seminary to move to online learning in the space of a few weeks in 
March 2020. Ms. Deen was the key staff person in assisting students 
and faculty in making this jump, which coincided with other major 
technology upgrades on campus: a new learning management 
system and a new student information system.

Associate library director and archivist Kristy Sorensen led the 
work of keeping track of furniture and art that were removed from 
the library. Staff were surprised at how much artwork had found its 
way into the building over the years. She found on-campus locations 
for all archival materials that were removed from their old home in 
the archives repository. Along with library director Timothy Lincoln, 
she attended bi-weekly construction calls to monitor progress and 
make increasingly more detailed plans for library furniture and 
room layout. Architectural firm PSA Dewberry took input from the 
staff seriously down to the specifics of ceiling heights in rooms and 
the position of staff desks in offices. Because the seminary moved 



388  AT L A 202 1 PROCEEDINGS

all staff to working from home in March 2020, the director had to 
learn how to supervise the staff via Teams calls and emails rather 
than face-to-face meetings.

 Staff look forward to moving into the completed Wright Center 
in the fall. As a result of this experience, the staff learned several 
lessons. First, begin weeding well in advance of a renovation project 
that requires removing print materials. It is senseless to store books 
that are not needed. Second, have a detailed inventory of shelving if 
you wish to reuse it. Architectural plans include not only stairwells 
and HVAC chases, but the layout of all furniture and shelves. Third, 
when choosing a small working collection of books, take seriously 
faculty needs and preferences as expressed in syllabi and bibliogra-
phies. The usefulness of a book depends on its social location. Fourth, 
make sure that everyone understands the acquisitions workflow 
for e-books. Fifth, keep a tape measure handy. Shelving, books, and 
furniture take up space in three dimensions. On many occasions, 
we were asked the precise dimensions of objects. Sixth, without 
intentional and continuous communication among staff, none of 
the pieces of the project would have fit together. Seventh and most 
importantly: despite construction, library users want library services 
that support their academic work. In other words, they want things 
to be normal.

In the time available for discussion, the presenters responded to 
three questions.

Question 1: How much interaction did you have with the architects 
during high level discussions about the new building? 
Answer: Lots! We were involved at every point, beginning with focus 
groups of users at the early stages (2009). After the conceptual stage 
of planning, design work was on hold until funds were raised. Some 
decisions about the exterior style of the building were changed at 
the request of key donors. Once building began in March 2020, we 
were asked increasingly detailed questions about specific aspects of 
spaces (e.g., the desk location of the learning technologies librarian). 
We were able to respond to a request from the library committee in 
the spring of 2021 for improved display areas because the details of 
interior walls had not been finalized.



Listen and Learn Sessions  389

Question 2: How did you solve the problem of book storage? What 
kind of containers did you use? How did you store your mini-collec-
tion?
Answer: We used professional movers that specialize in moving 
library books. They have stored 90,000 volumes in cardboard boxes 
in an environmentally controlled warehouse. Under close supervi-
sion of the library staff, movers loaded books in boxes in LC order 
(we hope). Seven existing ranges of shelving were moved into the 
racquetball court. We sequestered the 6,000 books chosen for the 
mini-collection separately so that they could be moved efficiently in 
plastic bins to the temporary space. The collection in the racquetball 
court is air conditioned. (During the pandemic, we used the collec-
tion for scanning needed pages and eventually started curbside 
book pickup.) As librarians, we know that library shelving is inter-
changeable; our architects wanted to match new purchases exactly 
by manufacturer and color.

Question 3: Are there any new spaces that are novel or experimen-
tal from the point of view of library services?
Answer: While nothing in the Wright Center will be revolutionary, 
we have implemented some features that meet the needs of users in 
the 2020s. Wi-Fi will work well throughout the building. We decided 
to allocate a lot of space for collaborative learning and a relatively 
smaller proportion to shelving, thus our extensive weeding of the 
print collection. We want the new building to invite patrons to hang 
out, so it has a large “commons” on the ground floor with a variety 
of seating options. The new building also features a digital learning 
center for recording video lectures for online classes. We hope that 
professors and students will use the space to create podcasts or class 
projects using media. During early stages of planning, this space 
became something like the room of requirement at Hogwarts: every-
thing to everybody. As design work continued, our IT department 
helped choose functional equipment, such as a lightboard which 
enables instructors to replicate the experience of writing on a chalk-
board during a digital presentation while maintaining eye contact. 
The digital learning center will also facilitate synchronous hybrid 
teaching of students both in the classroom and at other locations.


