WaPo's newsroom was warned about a looming shuffle and redesign in a memo from Marcus, Raju, Liz and Shirley this afternoon.

My favorite line: "In the meantime, you may want to start packing up or winnowing files so you're ready to go with a few weeks' notice." Very 'Diary of Anne Frank'...

FishbowlDC has the memo for your reading pleasure:

To: NEWS - All Newsroom From: Marcus Brauchli/news/ TWP Date: 06/03/2009 12:30PM

The Newsroom Colleagues,

We want to give you a quick update on our plans for physically integrating the print and online newsrooms. As many of you no doubt have heard, we're planning to reshape our space on the fifth floor of our downtown building. The result won't be fancy but it will be functional, because even the best people and the coolest technology won't make the difference to our day-to-day operation that mere physical proximity and voice-over-cubicle communication can. Shirley has been leading our efforts to plan for the newsroom revamp and, with the help of many of you, has come up with a design that ought to enable smooth collaboration among editors, producers, photographers, artists and reporters, many of whom will work together more closely than ever before. The reconstruction of the newsroom will involve some tricky logistics and no doubt inconvenience some people. We ask your indulgence and promise to move as quickly as possible so that we don't splinter groups into itinerant shards for long. Details about who's moving where and when are still being worked out, and we'll provide more information very soon. In the meantime, you may want to start packing up or winnowing files so you're ready to go with a few weeks' notice. The faster we move out, the sooner we can move back. We welcome comments on this process and appreciate your patience with it. Many thanks.

Marcus Liz Raju Shirley