The Galesburg Public Library is moving to its brand-new building.
And on Monday, they got a little help with that move from students at Lombard Middle School.
Around 525 students to be exact.
“We always talk about serving our community at Lombard Middle School,” said principal Becky Hutton. “So we thought was a perfect opportunity to let fifth- and sixth-graders be a part of a significant event as we close down the old library and are opening up the new.”
Spread out at arms-length, students stretched all the way from the old library on East Simmons Street to the new library on West Main Street.
Along with library staff, board members, and supporters, the students passed around 600 books from the old library to the new.
Students chanted “b-o-o-k, passing books is A-OK” and “we are the crew, from old to new.”
“They’re having a great time,” said Laurie Muelder, president of the library’s board of trustees. “I’ve been surprised by how many of the students actually look at the title as they pass the book. It will also encourage them to see the new library when it opens.”
The current library is now closed to the public, with an target date of the new one opening in mid-April.
Muelder said this was actually not the first time Galesburg has had a book brigade to move into a new library building.
Galesburg’s first book brigade came after its Carnegie Library burned.
“They had a temporary library downtown,” Muelder said. “When they moved from it to this building over here on Simmons Street, they had a book brigade. And there are people who remember doing it.”
Now that the Galesburg Public Library is moving out of the Simmons Street building, the passing of the books will be remembered by a whole new generation.
“I think this is amazing,” said Lombard student Feliane Nseti. “And I love helping people.”
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