ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


M ay 1983 /  153

Letters
Moving Collections

T o  the Editor:
W hile M r. Amodeo’s heart is undoubtedly in the 

right place and his advice for the careful handling 
of books in transit seems generally sound (C &R L  
News, M arch 1983, pp. 8 2 -8 3 ), it is doubtful that 
all o f his recom m endations are p ractical for a large 
scale move. In  p articu lar, loading both sides of 
each shelf of a booktruck prior to proceeding to the 
next shelf would easily double or triple the tim e re­
quired to load, and then to unload, a booktruck.

O n e  side sh o u ld  b e lo a d ed  e n tir e ly , th e  
booktruck repositioned, and the other side loaded 
(or unloaded). W h ile some care must be taken to 
avoid tip p in g  th e tru ck  w hen on ly on e side is 
load ed , this rap id ly becom es second n a tu re to 
“loading” and “unloading” personnel.

In  addition to consideration of book preserva­
tion, booktruck preservation must also be consid­
ered. Loading both sides of the top shelf first, as 
A m odeo suggests, is a sure w ay to  loosen up 
booktruck joints. W henever possible, booktrucks 
should be loaded from  the bottom to the top.

W h ile little of this advice may seem crucial for 
the m ovem ent of a few sections or ranges, it was es­
sential for the movement of more than 1 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0  
books during the renovation of W atson L ib rary at 
the University of Kansas .—C lifford  H. H aka, In­
form a tion  Librarian , M ichigan State University.

T o  the Ed itor:
As one who has directed the moves o f two aca ­

demic libraries involving a few hundred thousand 
volumes on long caravans of book carts, please be­
lieve me th at it never occurred to any o f us to load 
only p artially each tier on book carts and then sup­
port the loose m aterials with wrapped bricks. On 
book carts having three tiers, we loaded only the 
top two shelves w ith bound and unbound materials 
in an up right p osition . All item s w ere loaded 
snugly from end to end on each book ca rt so that 
nothing could fall o ff during transit. No items were 
damaged from the so-called crushing effect and no 
items fell off the book carts.

Using household bricks to support loose m ateri­
als is a poor idea in my opinion because o f the un­
necessary added weight to each loaded book cart 
and the wasted space used by bricks where books 
could be p laced . H ow ever, my m ain  co ncern  
would be the danger o f loose bricks slipping off 
book carts and landing on someone’s toes. Besides, 
in C aliforn ia, land o f stucco and cedar, household 
b rick s a re h a rd  to  f i n d .— P au l M. L e υ e r e n z , 
Scripps Institution o f  O ceanography Library, L a  
J o lla , C alifornia.

T he au thor responds:
My m ajor concern with moving research collec­

tions was dam age, not speed. Stressing speed over

care can save minutes, but costs hours in repair, re­
binding, replacem ent, staff tim e, and money. I f 
two people load and unload, repositioning the cart 
is unnecessary, extra tim e is m inim al, and the level 
o f care is better.

Loading a ca rt from the bottom up does seem 
better. T h e cart would then never be top-heavy.

In  th eir m a jo r 1982 m ove, the N ew berry L i­
brary used a padded “bookcase on w heels,” tilted 
inward, with good success. A high level of care was 
specified in the contract w ith the movers and su­
pervision by lib rary staff was made an integral part 
o f the moving process.

Bricks or bookends were m eant to be used as sup­
ports for loading or unloading, and only for trans­
port when the c a rt is not completely filled and the 
m aterials are overly loose.— A nthony J . A m odeo.

T o  the Editor:
I urge any library moving into new facilities to 

see th at the book shelves are installed on the stack at 
a distance o f 12 inches between shelves if a large 
portion o f the collection is composed o f bound seri­
als.

I once worked for a library th at moved into a 
new building. T h e crew  of the company th at in­
stalled the book shelves put the shelves 11 inches 
apart. Since most o f the bound volumes w ere seri­
als th at were 11 or more inches in height, w e would 
have been unable to put the volumes on the shelves. 
Even if the volumes were under 11 inches, m any of 
them would have been damaged by future use as 
patrons tried to pry them  out from between the 
shelves.

It took three people approximately one month to 
reset 2 6 ,0 0 0  three-foot long book shelves so that 
they w ere 12 inches apart. Fortunately the error 
was discovered two months before the move, or 
there would have been serious problems at moving 
tim e. — Thom as K. Lindsey, L u b b o c k , Texas.

T o  the Editor:
C heck the tie bars (if there are any) across the top 

of the stacks. I f  they have been re-used they may 
have so m any holes in them th a t they no longer are 
as strong as they should be. I f  the stacks are free­
standing, or if the tie  bars are not sufficiently 
strong, be especially careful when one side o f the 
range is unloaded. I f someone were to trip or other­
wise m ove th e  c en ter o f gravity past th e base 
(which is not hard to do when one is loaded and the 
other is not) the domino effect will c reate a real di­
saster.

D epending on the type o f stack, it might be wise 
to check the base to m ake certain it can handle be­
ing unevenly loaded. If, after checking the stacks, 
you have some fear th at they might tip over, either 
install temporary tie bars to them , m aking certain 
to carry them all the way to the walls on both ends, 
or design some other method o f assuring th at they 
cannot fall o ver.— M ichael D. K athm an , D irector 
o f  L ibraries, Saint J o h n s  University, Collegeviïle, 
Minnesota. ■  ■