Library Picks Up the Pieces, 1 Volume at a Time : Recovery: Sherman Oaks branch staff and volunteers have reshelved 30,000 books knocked off by the quake--and have 7,000 more to go.

Jane Austen is back on the shelf.

Emile Zola still has some time.

In just one week, staff members and volunteers of the Sherman Oaks Branch Library have reshelved nearly 30,000 books hurled to the floor by the Jan. 17 earthquake--and have only about 7,000 to go.

With eight staff members and an average of five volunteers daily, that works out to more than 2,300 books per person.

They began the task on March 2 after construction workers had bolted and bracketed most of the 195 stacks to the floors and walls.

Although 90% of the library’s 42,000 books came tumbling down, the card catalogue remained intact.

The library sustained no structural damage, but 1,000 paperback books were destroyed.

By the scheduled reopening on Monday, workers expect to be finished reshelving the remainder of the books, including sections G through Z in adult fiction.

“Big, thick books are easier,” said Shari Feinberg-Uhlenberg, an out-of-work television production assistant. “The tiny, thin little books--you work for hours and don’t have much to show for what you’ve done because they’re so small.”

The library’s patrons have mostly been using the Studio City branch, which reopened within two weeks of the quake. Several patrons left word with the Studio City branch that they were available for volunteer work when it was time to reopen their library.

“We have such nice patrons here,” said Alice Feinberg, a 16-year library assistant who has been with the Sherman Oaks branch for the past three years.

“One man has promised to bring flowers to fill up the library when we reopen,” Feinberg said.

Vi Cooper, 75, a longtime Sherman Oaks volunteer, has been spending five hours a day reordering the library’s shelf list--an index card list of all the books and the cost of each book. It had been housed in wooden index boxes like the card catalogue, but did not fare as well.

“Some of (the cards) will always have reminders of the earthquake on them because of the footprints,” Cooper said.

“They were scattered so that the construction workers couldn’t really get around them,” Cooper said.