Re: Shelving space concerns Carol Morse 23 Sep 2004 16:50 UTC
We do remote storage on library shelving. We don't have a cut-off date like you do, but I decided title by title according to age, use, relevance to present-day needs, etc. We weeded out a few titles that we judged had outlived their usefulness, too. We do ILL on those materials. It accounts for most of the uses for this material. Apparently, our undergrad patrons aren't interested in getting these materials. Most of them prefer EbscoHost anyway. Patrons request the materials by 2 PM. Student workers from Circulation go down once a day mid-afternoon to retrieve/return materials. We also shelve alphabetically, which means every time we purchase more shelving (can't afford to get all at once), we have to shift the whole collection. This summer I chose titles M-Z so it would be easier. But then it was harder to shift our collection here, since we had little room in the first half to spread things out. We have been able to gain enough space to allow for 5 years of growth, whereas before we could only allow for 2-3 year of growth. Hope this helps. Carol Morse ******************************************** Address: Walla Walla College Library Periodicals Dept. 104 S. College Ave. College Place, WA 99324-1159 Carol Morse Serials Librarian morsca@wwc.edu 509) 527-2684; fax 509) 527-2001 ********************************************* >>> lgrooms@STETSON.EDU 9/23/2004 7:58:01 AM >>> We are beginning to consider ways to optimize our limited shelving space for periodicals. Currently we shelve alphabetically, with our collection divided by date. Older material (published before 1984) is shelved in the basement and more recently published material is shelved on the main floor. This arrangement makes the most frequently used material most easily available to patrons. It appears that we will run out of shelf space before an addition to the library can be funded. Two of the options we are beginning to look at are remote storage and the possibility of digitizing part of our collection. I would like to pick your collective brain about these options, and any others that work for other libraries. If you have a remote storage arrangement, do you have materials on shelves or keep them in boxes? How did you decide what to store remotely? What kind of turn around time do you have to fill requests for materials remotely stored? Do you fill ILL requests for materials stored remotely? What works well, what is problematic? If you are digitizing your collection, or part of it, what considerations did you have to make? Are there copyright issues for digitizing materials the library owns, if the electronic product is for the use of the library only? Did you hire additional staff for the project? How was the project funded? What other questions would I be asking about this if I knew enough to ask? Are there any commercially available electronic products that cover these older periodical materials? I know we can't be the only ones dealing with these issues; paper doesn't last forever and shelf space is expensive. What are you doing? Linda Grooms Periodicals Supervisor duPont-Ball Library