Jul. 31—EAU CLAIRE — For 46 years they've held thousands of books, but never read a word.

After holding up the vast collection of materials at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library since it opened in 1976, the vintage wooden bookshelves are for sale.

As Eau Claire's public library gets ready to move back into its thoroughly renovated building at 400 Eau Claire St., 50 solid oak shelving units won't be making that return trip.

Shelly Collins-Fuerbringer, deputy library director, said the shelves are among the furnishings that are being replaced as part of the $18.5 million building renovation project.

She explained the old wooden bookshelves served well through decades of heavy use, but there were some drawbacks leading them to be phased out at libraries in general.

"You won't see wood shelving in libraries any more," she said. "The functionality of metal shelving is far superior."

Adjusting individual shelves is easier in metal units, she noted, which comes in handy when having to accommodate a row of taller or shorter books or other materials.

While many of the Eau Claire library's wooden shelves remain in good shape, custodians have had to reinforce some of them due to the strain of holding up heavy books.

New white metal shelving at the renovated library will also be at shorter heights of 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 feet tall, which is intended to let more natural light penetrate into the building, Collins-Fuerbringer said. Standing at 7 1/2 feet tall, the old oak shelves blocked more sunlight from coming in through the library's windows.

On Friday morning, the library's large bookshelves — listed in individual lots — went up for auction on a website used by local governments to sell old or surplus items, wisconsinsurplus.com. The auction is set to close on Aug. 15.

Winning bidders will need to disassemble and haul away bookshelves at buildings the library has been renting since spring 2021. The temporary library has operated from a commercial building at 2725 Mall Drive and used a vacant store at 2615 Mall Drive for extra book storage.

Prior to this auction, the library had already sold some of its older furniture — desks, chairs and tables — that will be replaced with new ones as part of the renovation project.

And in addition to auctioning off the bookshelves, there will be a few more furnishings to sell because they also won't be returning to the renovated building.

"Everything we aren't moving downtown will get auctioned off before the end of September," Collins-Fuerbringer said.

Proceeds from the auctions go into the library's annual budget.

The first day the renovated library will be open has not been set yet, but is going to be sometime in early September, according to the library's website. A grand reopening celebration has been scheduled for Sept. 26.

Meanwhile services at the temporary site at 2725 Mall Drive where the library has been for over a year are winding down.

Friday was the final day that employees set aside items for holds requested by patrons, who have until the end of this week to pick them up.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, the temporary library will close, pausing in-person services until the renovated library opens.

While people cannot check out materials during that interim time, they can return items they have already borrowed to the numerous library drop boxes around Eau Claire.

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