Of Shelves & Shelving Allocations

As I worked on shelving allocations in September, I found this project harder to calculate for than others in which I've been involved. My other projects have involved calculations for fairly static collection sizes. Yes, we received new material every day, but the numbers didn't make a significant amount of difference. However, now our library system has a floating/shared collection. This means that whatever material is returned to our branch becomes our responsibility to house and maintain until it is checked out and returned somewhere else. This makes my collection sizes moving targets on any given day or week.

Adding to that is the fact that our Collection Development department is adding about 70,000 new items for the new branch. Some of that material is being held by the jobber for delivery in a few weeks, but some has gradually been sent in each day with all the other new material generally purchased for our branch. Fortunately, Collection Development was able to give me a broad breakdown of the number of items being purchased for various parts of the collection: nonfiction, J fiction, adult fiction, mysteries, science fiction, etc. Hopefully my calculations won't be too far off-base. I have a reputation for being fairly accurate at shelving allocations so I'd hate to ruin my record now. :-)

Other things I had to consider when determining my shelving allocations were the types of shelves to be used in various sections. In consultation with our assistant director, we decided to use full backs throughout nonfiction to prevent books from sliding through the back into a section on the other side. Full backs required the use of flat shelving, but in fiction we wanted to use some kind of slanted shelving. We decided to use open backs throughout the fiction sections with slanted shelves that have a 4-5" back on them. These shelves plug into the frame the same way flat shelves do, but go in on a tilt.

For magazine shelving in our quiet study room, our assistant director decided to go with fixed slanted shelves for displaying current copies paired with flat shelves several inches below for storage of older issues. These units will be 78" high. We are using shorter variations of this type of shelving within the teen's and Children's shelving. The variety of shelving being used throughout the building means that I need to be on hand as the shelves are being put in to make sure that shelves are being placed in the proper sections.

Another important point is that the shelves be properly spaced on the frame. The first shelf above the bottom shelf often needs to have a higher clearance than between other shelves so material is easier to see. I want to make sure I'm at the new building when the installers start putting shelves into the frames so that I can supervise this. I don't want us to have to reset all the shelves after they've been installed.

One thing we didn't think of before the shelving was already ordered was that we might want/need shelving in our two storage closets near the children's area and our supply closets in the staff area. Now we know we want shelving in there so now we'll probably have to use shelving from our old building for them.