  |
| In
This Issue
October 1999 Library
Begins Off-Campus Library
Research Guides Now Deacidification
Stops Damage |
Library Begins Off-Campus
Storage
The Georgetown University Library no longer has the shelf space to accommodate the 30,000-plus volumes added annually. As a result, Lauinger Library and the Blommer Science Library have begun the process of identifying low-use materials from their collections to be moved to an off-campus storage facility.The Library expects to move about 150,000 volumes to the facility over the next year.Faculty will be consulted in identifying infrequently used materials and in creating a process that minimizes the impact of remote storage. Items in storage requested by library users will be available within one or two business days. Background Lauinger, Blommer Science, and Riggs libraries are all effectively full, despite years-long measures taken to address the need for adequate Library storage space. Over the past eight years, the Library added thousands of new shelves to Lauinger to accommodate the continued growth of the collection.Compact shelving was installed on the Lower Level in 1991, shelves were added to the book stacks in 1996, and along with a second-floor reconfiguration, thousands of new shelves were added in 1997 to house the periodical collection better.The Blommer Science Library has been completely full for years, and nearly half of the science materials are now located outside the Science Library in either the Riggs Library or in Lauinger.New shelving can no longer be added without eliminating significant amounts of study space.
The Library explored the possibility of building an addition to Lauinger with the Main Campus Library Committee, the Executive Vice President’s Office, the Provost’s Office, and the University Architect’s Office. These discussions resulted in an understanding that other building priorities (e.g., the Southwest Quadrangle project and the need for new science facilities) would take precedence over an addition to Lauinger.The only other viable solution was to seek an off-campus storage site. The Georgetown University Library is not alone in using offsite storage facilities for low-use materials.Harvard, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, and many other research institutions have found offsite storage to be necessary and satisfactory. Storage Facility Chosen In consultation with the Main Campus Library Committee, the Library Advisory Council, the Provost, and the Main Campus Executive Faculty, the Library investigated several options for off-campus storage and selected the Washington Research Library Consortium’s (WRLC) Offsite Storage facility located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The WRLC storage facility provides high-density, environmentally controlled, retrievable storage for books, audio-visual or microform media, and archival boxes. In order to store the maximum number of items in the least amount of floor space, the facility shelves items by size, with barcode links to individual titles. The facility consists of 12 rows of 30-foot-high racks containing approximately 9,000 shelves. The storage area is climate-controlled to provide an optimum environment for books and documents.The WRLC storage facility sends materials requested by 5 p.m. (M–F) to the requesting library the next business day.A small reading room is available at WRLC for onsite review of materials. More detailed information about the WRLC Offsite Storage facility is available from their website . Transferring Materials to Storage Choosing appropriate materials to be stored is critical to the success of this project.Identification of prospective materials for storage will begin with the circulation history of each volume in the collection, which is known beginning with 1993.The pilot storage program began with the Blommer Science Library in order to test the procedure with a smaller collection than Lauinger’s. Science materials published before 1980 that have not circulated since 1993 will be reviewed for possible storage.Science librarians have examined each volume, marked those that seem appropriate for storage, and consulted with science faculty in identifying which of the titles should remain in the Science Library.Beginning early this month, the Library will process the science volumes and transfer them to the storage facility.Each book housed in the storage facility will include the location “Off-campus storage” in GEORGE, the online catalog. Following review by librarians and faculty, this process will begin in Lauinger Library by December, starting with the removal of books from the lower level. In early 2000, Library Liaisons will work closely with their academic department contacts to identify materials on other floors in Lauinger Library that can be moved to off-campus storage.The circulation history, the significance of a particular title, and how knowledge is created in a given field will be taken into account, just as was done in identifying materials for storage from the Science Library collection. Faculty participation in this project is essential. Questions and Contacts If you have any questions about the off-campus storage project, please contact:
Learn more about the project at the storage website. |
| © Copyright 1999, Georgetown University | Last updated: 11/10/99 |