So, lo these many moons ago, I spent a summer in college working in the school library as we did some year-end cleaning and organizing. Part of this job involved spending a day with the rest of the student employees and full-time librarians moving several bookcases' worth of books from the tower down to the main floor. No elevator up there, of course, so we used mail bins to pass handfuls of books down a human chain down the stairs and onto a cart. It worked, though man were those things heavy.
Today's Illumination involves a similar process with a lot more people. October Books in England was moving to a new location, as the rent of their existing storefront was skyrocketing (as they do). They decided the best thing they could do was buy their own location, which they were able to do through donations, crowdfunding, and microloans. The next step was moving the stock to the new location without costing a lot of money or shutting down for a long time.
On Sunday, they put out a call for volunteers, and were nearly overwhelmed with help. All together, more than 200 people formed a human chain to pass books out of the old store, down the street, and into the new location. The best part is that passersby would ask what was happening, then join in.
People working together to help a bookstore stay in business and moving stock by hand? I'm a sucker for people helping people read.
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