More than three decades ago, San Diego's leaders and citizens recognized that, if we truly wanted to be a great metropolitan city, we needed a new Central Library to replace the old one built in 1954 that was woefully out of date. It lacked the space needed to serve the existing and future population. Even then the facility was beyond its capacity with much of its collection in two basement storage areas, off limits to the public. Together the City, civic leaders and citizens of San Diego embarked on a journey to create a new Library that would have the space, infrastructure and technology to address community needs and engender regional pride. In 2010 the San Diego City Council approved the new Central Library project with a caveat that it would need to operate with the same number of staff as the old facility. This was a tall order since the old library was 144,524 square feet with three public floors, while the new library would be over two times larger than the old facility with 366,673 square feet on seven floors of library space. To plan a move of this magnitude and successfully staff the new Central Library on an ongoing basis with 115 full time equivalent (FTE) staff, took an immense amount of strategic planning, creative problem-solving, and teamwork.

Prior to the 2010 groundbreaking for the new Central Library, plans were already underway for the move. Several experienced library consultants were hired to assist with planning for shelving, furniture, infrastructure and other technological needs. A process mapping consultant met with the Central section staff to map out the beginning of a strategic plan and timeline. Weeding the collection began in earnest in every section. Once that was complete an aggressive plan was developed to apply radio frequency (RFID) to the 1.2 million materials in preparation for the new automated material handling system at the new Central Library. A former library director, who had experience with the move and merger of a public and academic library, consulted with library staff to collaboratively determine how to meet the operation needs in the new facility that included a charter high school. From those meetings operational teams were created to address staffing, communications, volunteers, and digital display needs. Each team was charged with creating "Wow Factors" that would assure the new Central Library truly would be a library of the future. Three separate movers were hired to assist with specific aspects of the move including 1) the office move, 2) art movers to handle City owned art and the rare books housed in Special Collections, and 3) the collection move, which required combining the collections from the old Central Library's two basement levels with those on the three public floors into one unified system on the public shelves in the new Central Library. SDPL formed a Change Management Committee, consisting of key library staff members who could make quick decisions to keep the project management process moving.

The move from the old Central Library was complete in July 2013 prior to the opening of the new Central Library September 30. While the finishing touches were being made on construction, library staff was busy implementing and being trained on new efficient and cost saving technology in the building including:

• GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) fiber optic architecture, including separate high speed broadband networks for public and staff use and Voice Over IP (Internet Protocol) that transmits voice over a single broadband connection and reduces communication and infrastructure costs.
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Materials Handling System - that allows for more efficient sorting, less staff time required for reshelving, and faster check in and check out for customers.
• Public Computer Reservation System - Computer management system that streamlines equitable access to 300 computers for public use.
• Volunteer Scheduling Software – Web-based scheduling software that streamlines scheduling of volunteers and allows for more efficient volunteer tracking and reporting.
• Use of iPhones and mobile devices for communication o Staff uses texting, iPhones, and tablets for communication between floors.
• FaceTime (a future feature) will be used at several public services desks for library patrons to communicate with staff.

The process of dealing with so much change in such a short amount of time has made staff more nimble, resilient, and innovative. We are relying on one another more and digging deeper to find creative solutions to meet the future needs of the community.