Re: Collection space

Jim Scholtz (jscholtz@sdln.net)
Mon, 22 Mar 1999 10:49:19 -0800 (PST)

Hi My name is Jim Scholtz and I write about video collection development
and space needs. I'm also a practicing AV librarian but am currently a
library director in SD. (just wanted to give you some credentials so you'd
have confidence that I knew what I was talking about) I would figure 2
inches per video for storage if you plan to store them in plastic cases,
spine-out on the shelves. So for a collection of 4000 videos you would
need 667 linear feet. Most likely, shelves will be 4 ft. long - figure 25
videos to a 4 ft. shelf (this also gives you some growing room for
additions and makes the shelves not so tightly packed - you can actually
get about 32 videos in a 4 ft. linear space). ADA requires 42 in. between
stacks if patron accessible. So you have to decide the following:

Patron accessible or not?
Can you buy new shelving units or do you need to use old existing one?
what type of shelving units do you want? Double-sided? # of shelves per
unit/how high?
Do you want to display them spine out, side-by-side or at an angle to
increase browsing?
Do you want to have isles or can you use space-saving shelving?

At my library, we have wire-rack units that can store 350 videos in an 8
sq. ft. area (35 videos on each shelf, 10 shelves). We also have regular
book shelving (7 shelves high) which could shelf 490 in the same square
footage (more cubic ft. because of height). Hope this information helps.
Jim S. At 09:58 AM 3/18/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello
> I hope you can help me with a technical question. I have approximately
>4000 videotapes for our 5 schools buildings, centrally stored. Where we
>are now, the shelves are in three different rooms. My area is being torn
>down and I am being reassigned a new area. I need to know what size room
>I will need to have a collection properly housed. I think the architects
>are trying to give me an impossible situation, but I'm not clear about
>it because everything is so spread out here. What would you advise for a
>space just for the storage of videotapes?
> Thanks in advance,
> Judie Porter, Portsmouth Schools, RI
>
>
>