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Pooh Has Left the Building
March 12, 2008

Well, we knew it had to happen and happen it did. Winnie-the Pooh and friends have vacated the premises. They've been good friends and stalwart companions, but the time finally came to say goodbye. On Monday morning professional preservation type persons came to the Donnell Library and took care of our darlings like they were made of platinum, silver, and gold. The good news is that Pooh will be moving pretty much immediately to his brand new home at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (a.k.a. the one with the stone lions out front). They will live in the Salomon Room in a case that once belonged to a Gutenberg Bible. So just in case you Brits out there are worried that we don't know how to take care of your babies, they are so important that they live where GUTENBERG BIBLES once tread.
The moving process was quite complex and fascinating, so I just had to take a couple snappy snaps of how it worked.
First of all, our preservation types came loaded down with all kinds of mysterious boxes and foamy things.

The alarm was turned off of Pooh (yes, he had the finest of protection) and the doors opened.

Here they sit for the last time in their old abode.

And then nothing much happened. There was a lot of rolling up of tissue paper, which is pretty much as dull as it sounds. I decided to work on the Reference Desk instead on the other side of the room until something happened . . .

. . . which is how I pretty much missed everybody getting packed up, except for Eeyore.
This meant that the old case that had once looked like this . . .

. . . now looked a little more like this . . .

Now watch this fella as he painstakingly arranges our favorite donkey just about right. I love watching this stuff sometimes.

And that was that. The only left was to pack up the case itself, which they did.

And now we've a little sign where an icon used to sit.
Everyone has been very good about making Pooh continually available to the public, but if you are in the city you may as well stop by the Humanities and Social Sciences Library rather than the Donnell if you want a taste of Milne. We are without Pooh from here on in. That little quiz Gwenda offered the other day makes me nostalgic.
Speaking of news, BIG BIG library news was in the Times yesterday, in case you missed it. Renovations! Money! Hubs and Spokes! The Humanities and Social Sciences Library renamed to (and this is true) The Schwartzman Building. Don't believe me. Read it for yourself.
Posted by Elizabeth Bird on March 12, 2008 | Comments (12)