Relocation to the new campus\nwill begin this summer holiday. The university library is expected to start\nmoving in mid-July and to complete the relocation, cataloguing and stacking of\nover 600,000 copies of books within 21 days. Talk about mission impossible!\nThis issue of My UM<\/i> tells you how\nthree years of thoughtful planning is going to turn the impossible into\npossible.<\/p>\n\n
Biggest Relocation of Books in Macao\u2019s History<\/b><\/p>\n\n
The library will carry out\nits relocation in two stages. The first stage, which is expected to start in\nmid-July and last three weeks, will be devoted to moving the most\nurgently-needed books, books from closed racks, back numbers and books from the\nrarely used stacks. The second stage, which is expected to start in October,\nwill mainly be devoted to moving nonurgently-needed ancient books and newspapers.<\/p>\n\n
The library currently houses\nan astounding number of collections, including about 500,000 copies of\ncatalogued books, 150,000 copies of non-catalogued books, and innumerable\njournals and old newspapers. Library colleagues began preparation three years\nago in order to make sure that the biggest relocation of books in Macao\u2019s\nhistory can progress smoothly. \u201cWe will need to move about 40,000 boxes of\nitems,\u201d says Assistant University Librarian Dr Raymond Wong. \u201cUnlike the\ncurrent library, in which only one level is used as the stacks area, the new\nlibrary on the new campus will have four levels dedicated to that purpose, and\nthis presents a big challenge for us\u2014how do we re-arrange the books from one\nlevel into the four levels? Before packing we need to accurately calculate the average\ncapacity of each level while also making allowance, as accurately as possible,\nfor future expansion of stacks areas. The fact that the current book racks have\nseven levels while those on the new campus will only have six also adds to the\ndifficulty in moving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Library e-Database Will Only Close 1 Day<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Many readers want to know\nhow long the library will be closed due to the relocation. Dr Wong says, \u201cWhen\nthe library moved from the Ho Yin Centre to its current location in 1999, there\nwere about 140,000 copies of books, and it took three months to prepare and two\nweeks to complete the relocation. Now we have three times more books, but by\ndrawing on the experience from the previous relocation, we are confident that\nwe can complete the relocation within three weeks.\u201d He stresses that in order\nto involve the students in the process, relocation of some odd volumes of\nspecial collection books will be assigned to the students. \u201cNot only will it be\na wonderful opportunity to witness a historic moment in the university\u2019s\nhistory, but it will be a good opportunity for education outside the\nclassroom\u2014we hope to let students learn how to organise a relocation project,\u201d says\nDr Wong.<\/p>\n\n
UM Librarian Dr Paul Poon\nsays: \u201cWe expect to start moving the books on 15 July, and during the\nrelocation process the library will be temporarily closed. The new library on\nthe new campus is expected to open on 23 July. However, teachers, students and\nnon-UM readers will be able to continue to access the electronic database throughout\nthe process. We believe the impact on students and teachers should be minimal\nsince the move will take place during the summer holiday.\u201d The library\u2019s\nelectronic database will only be closed on the last day of the library\u2019s move\nso the server can be moved to the new campus, and the system will be re-opened\non the new campus the next day.<\/p>\n\n
New Book Loan Scheme to Ease Relocation Workload<\/b><\/p>\n\n
The library currently has\nabout 130 rows of books, with a total length of about 10 kilometres, equivalent\nto the length of two Friendship Bridges (Ponte de Amizade) joined together. The\nnumber of book racks will double after the library moves to the new campus. The\ncurrent book racks will be converted into compact racks and stand by for use in\ncase the new library needs additional racks in the future. To save time in\ndismantling and putting back together the racks, new racks will need to be\nacquired through a tendering process. Now with only six months to go, the\nlibrary still has some slight concern about whether the purchase and installation\ncan be completed before the relocation begins.<\/p>\n\n
Starting this April, the\nlibrary will launch a new book loan scheme, as part of the \u201cLibrary Week\u201d\nactivity, but also in an attempt to ease the relocation workload. According to\nthe new scheme, the number of books for loan at each time will be increased,\nand the loan period will be extended to six months. If you are a book lover and\nwant to do something to help make the relocation process a little easier, just borrow\nmore books.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Relocation to the new campus will begin this summer holiday. The university library is expected to start moving in mid-July and to complete the relocation, cataloguing and stacking of over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n