THOUSAND OAKS : It’s Due Day for Start of Library Move

As Westlake Village resident Amy Wu pulled into the Thousand Oaks Library parking lot Monday, she was startled by an unusual sight: an entourage of movers in blue uniforms loading library equipment into a big semi-truck.

“I didn’t know they were moving,” she said, hopping out of her white minivan with an armload of children’s books. “I was wondering, ‘Are they closed Mondays?’ ”

Indeed, the “closed” sign will be up until 1996. For the next year, the 59,000-square-foot Janss Road facility will be closed while construction crews repair the earthquake-damaged building.

Until then, the library’s collection of 290,000 books, magazines and video tapes is being packed and hauled to the old City Hall building, 2400 Willow Lane.

“The only thing left behind will be the shelving,” said Steve Brogden, library deputy director. “There may be a stray box here and there, but for the most part everything will be gone.”

Movers arrived Monday to start hauling office equipment to the new site, and will begin to move the vast collection of books Wednesday, Brogden said.

Meanwhile, library personnel pulled books from shelves and loaded them into carefully marked white boxes. Movers will use small tractor-like “book trucks” to haul the heavy boxes to vans.

“They have a very organized moving system,” said Nancy Hoffmann, a part-time library worker, clutching a fat black marker and a roll of adhesive labels. “Everything must have a label.”

As Hoffmann tagged boxes, workers Brett Juskalian and Wendy Kreutz packed paperback Westerns and romance novels.

“I’ve moved so many times personally,” Kreutz said, “to move this is mind-boggling.”

The relocation is expected to be finished by June 5. In the meantime, library officials have extended hours at the Newbury Park branch, 2331 Borchard Road, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The Newbury Park branch is closed Fridays and Sundays, but the temporary library at the old City Hall will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays after June 5.