June 12, 2004

Dawn Hallett
Hallett Movers
Summit, IL 60501

Please use this letter as you like. I think potential clients should know what a marvelous job Hallett Movers did with our move at Seattle Public Library in 2004.

First, a summary: In 2001, the contents of the old central library were divided and moved to 3 different locations: a warehouse, a library storage facility and a temporary central library. At each of those locations, the collections were further split to different floors or rooms. The collection materials sent to the warehouse were boxed, unfortunately, with inadequate record keeping. When the new building was ready in 2004, the plan was to move all the separated collections together and interfile in a single run of Dewey, fiction, documents, etc. A team of library workers, we called the “Calculators”, spent more than a year measuring and planning the layout of collection materials in the new building

Not wanting to lose all the work of the calculators and based on our experience with the 2001 move, the library was particularly interested in hiring a moving company that would be willing and able to work with the calculator people every step of the move.

During the hiring interviews, Dawn and her colleagues were among the most knowledgeable about library collections and the most agreeable to working with library staff.

As it turned out, all of the Hallett Movers personnel were knowledgeable and agreeable; also patient and flexible and creative problem solvers and solution finders in what turned out to be a complicated move. The library projected 6-8 weeks and Hallett Movers did the move in 5 weeks. It was a very impressive operation.

The result of the move is that those of us who worked on the move with Hallett finished with a strong feeling of satisfaction and success. I think the reasons for this feeling is that Dawn and her main crew of Valerie, Debbie, Michael, Maurice, and Jack unfailingly demonstrated 4 characteristics. They have an efficient work method and ethic. They treat the temporary local employees with dignity, so that they get the most out of their labor. Most important for us and for this move, they communicated continuously, effectively and with sensitivity with both library staff and the other move related vendors.

Finally, most appreciated, they were gracious and good humored throughout.

I wish them luck in all their future moves, and I recommend them without qualification.

Bob Hageman
Move Coordinator 2003-04
Seattle Public Library