The University is considering retrofitting the Ivy Stacks Storage Facility in order to increase storage space for the University Library’s collection. Library shelves are currently filled almost to capacity.
Ivy Stacks, the University Library’s off-Grounds storage facility, was opened in 1994 “to enable us to keep shelving books,” University Deputy Librarian Diane Walker said. “At that point the shelves in all the libraries on Central Grounds were full.”
Since 1994, 750,000 books have been moved to the off-Grounds facility, filling Ivy Stacks to capacity, Walker explained.
“Those are mostly low-use materials,” including duplicate journals and other materials that don’t circulate often, said Warner Granade, circulation manager for Alderman Library.
Ivy Stacks contains older materials, Walker said, “but as a research library, it’s our responsibility to keep them and to continue to make them available for researchers that might want them in the future.”
Though Ivy Stacks has been filled to capacity for about three years, Walker said, the University continues to receive new books daily. During the last year, University libraries added a total of 61,056 volumes, with Alderman Library receiving 18,032, Granade said.
“We are not [sending books to Ivy Stacks] anymore because there’s no space for us to send them there,” he said. “So we’re just being tighter and tighter in Alderman.”
Books are being placed on their sides on top of shelves and piled on tables, Walker said.
“If you walk in the libraries, you will see ... that the shelves are almost full to capacity,” Granade said.
Materials are also being shelved in enclosed areas of Alderman Library “where people can’t get to them,” Walker said; however, like the materials in Ivy Stacks, they are still available through a delivery system. People can request items through the Virgo online catalog and pick them up at a library of their choice.
“Usually we can do that in less than 24 hours,” Walker said.
To create more space, Walker said, “the University is considering a request now to seek state funding to allow us to retrofit Ivy Stacks.” The proposal involves replacing the traditional shelves, which feature an aisle between rows of shelves. Ivy Stacks would instead use “compact shelving,” Walker explained, where shelves are placed on rails so entire ranges of shelving are compressed against each other. Aisles are opened up as needed and otherwise remain closed.
“That will allow us to put twice as many books in Ivy [Stacks] as we now have there,” Walker said, adding that this plan would cost the University much less money than would be required to construct another building. If the plan is approved, it will begin in July 2009, and probably take about a year, she said.
With more space, the libraries would be able to move overflow books out of the libraries on Central Grounds and continue adding to the collections, Walker explained. The overall aim is to expand shelving off rather than on Central Grounds, Walker said.
“One of the reasons that we’re doing this is because our goal is to keep as much space in the libraries as possible for students to be able to use the libraries for studying and work,” she said.
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