It had been several weeks since I had been to the restoration shop, sometimes life gets busy and this was one of those moments.
While the restorers had been making headway on the latest project, I was looking forward to getting a few other things organized but stopped in my tracks after walking into the office.
Books, in boxes everywhere.
Biographies and histories along with books on aircraft, so many to enjoy.
We hadn’t been gone that long, what have I walked in to?
The other restorer said more books were on their way thanks to another one of our volunteers.
An aviation museum in the area was remodeling and found books in the walls of their space during the demolition.
The amount of space they had didn’t allow for keeping them, the other restorer said they could come to to the restoration shop, we would figure something out.
The other restorer asked where I thought we could house books within the restoration shop and asked what else would I need to organize everything.
Give me a minute, I said, I’ll get back to you on that.
Finding the Perfect Spot
Walking around looking at the shop, some rooms off of the main workspace came to mind as they had recliners and lamps along with room for bookshelves in both that room and an adjacent one.
The restorer had some bookshelves that would work around the building. I found more like them online and a rough guess of how many we would need.
Taking a look at the books, some were numbered but it didn’t look like the local library.
The other restorer suggested cataloging and organizing the books like a library. Having a place to take a break from projects and read a book would be a great treat.
I headed to the museum at the other end of the airport that had a reading room for inspiration.
Their shelves were better than what we had from our online shopping, but a different organizational structure would work better for us.
I thought about the library within the Wings and Wheels museum at Poplar Grove airport. The restorer spent afternoons reading and researching when in the neighborhood. The comfortable atmosphere encouraged spending time with aviation books.
Walking back to the restoration shop, a basic structure took shape in my mind.
As I got the last of the books moved into the other room, more books showed up.
Once the carload had been brought in, I had a chance to ask how many more books were coming.
The other volunteer guessed there would be four carloads, which he was breaking up over weeks.
Wow.
We are going to need more shelves.
Since they are reducing their collection, do they have shelves they do not need anymore?
The volunteer said he’d ask and let us know.
In the meantime, let’s get these books organized so we can figure out how to proceed.
Makeshift Library
Lining up the bookshelves we had on hand, I set up a temporary home for them and started to shelve using the numbers already on the books.
So much happened in a short time, one of the fullest days I have had at the restoration shop in some time.
The restorer says it’s time to call it a day.
I was hoping to see one of Rosie’s daughters, Phoenix, as she was coming in to work on a project. Oh well, not today.
The restorer and I realized he left his phone at the shop after we sat down to dinner, and headed back to get it.
The lights in the reading room were on when we arrived.
Taking a break from her project, we found Phoenix tucked into a recliner with a book open in her lap a look of excitement mixed with relaxation on her face.
Rosie’s daughter, who never slows down, taking a moment for herself.
Though far from finished, the books have already made a difference.
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