search articles:     from the issue of December 8, 2005           Sorting begins at depository, retrieval facility Book storage rises to new heights  BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS The new UNL library depository/retrieval facility is a bookworm's ultimate fantasy.     TALL ORDER - Gary Dolan looks for a book 30 feet in the air at the Library Depository/Retrieval Facility on East Campus. A specialized, 8,500 pound order picker allows workers to traverse the towering aisles of books, retrieving them for sorting, interlibrary loans and photo copy requests. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications. More than 420,000 aged books, government documents and theses moved last summer from Love Library, three branch libraries and an off-campus storage facility into a new climate controlled East Campus building for cleaning, sizing, sorting and long-term storage. "Many of the books we have out here are older and not checked out as often as others," said Gary Dolan, manager of the library depository/retrieval facility. "Rather than just throw out these valuable books, the university has built a cost-effective way to protect and store them for the future." The four rows of high-density shelving units - which measure 54 inches wide, 105 feet deep and 30 feet tall - are designed to store more than 800,000 properly organized books. Currently, the facility is three-quarters full as staff members have started sorting each collection. When the sorting process - which makes better use of space by sorting the materials by size rather than by title or author - is complete in summer 2006, the reorganized collections will fill about half of the depository/retrieval facility. "When we finish sizing the books, we will have room for about 400,000 to 500,000 more volumes," Dolan said. Staff members shadowed moving crews as the books arrived in the summer, mapping out the specific location of each collection. The mapping served two purposes - to help with the ongoing sorting process and to allow the facility to continue interlibrary loans and copying of requested articles. "We actually serve two jobs here," Dolan said. "Our public face is the interlibrary loan and full-service copying of articles like other parts of the library system. The second part of our job is the resizing and storage of the collections." While many of the books, documents, theses and assorted printings remain unsorted, the facility has maintained a 98 percent success rate in tracking down requests. Dolan said that rate includes getting interlibrary loans ready for checkout in one day, and articles photocopied and ready for pick-up in four hours. Between those requests, staff members continue to pull the unorganized collections from shelves for cleaning via a vacuum then sort them by size. "The books come to us organized by the Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal systems," Dolan said. "But, we sort them by size because that is more efficient for storage." Each book maintains a regular library bar code, allowing for a return to regular circulation in the future. However, a second code is affixed to each item. The specially designed code is used strictly for the depository/retrieval facility and tells exactly where the book is stored. On average, workers are organizing 1,350 items per day. Their single-day record is more than 1,800 items. Dolan said more than 80,000 of the 420,000-plus items have been assimilated into the new system. All items in the facility are organized in acid-free storage devices, lined two-deep on each shelf. The climate controlled storage area is kept at 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit with a constant humidity level of 35 percent.   SPECIALIZED ORGANIZATION - University Libraries employees (from left) Anita Kreps and Andrea Arbuck enter materials into the new organizational system at the Library Depository/Retrieval Facility. Special barcodes identify exactly where each item is located in the storage site. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.   "Those are optimal levels for long-term storage of books," Dolan said. "So much better than where these books were before." Conditions will help preserve materials for up to 150 years. The $2.9 million UNL facility joins about 40 other academic and research libraries with similar facilities to house and preserve materials. The University Libraries system collects about 40,000 new materials annually. Based on that projection, library officials estimate the depository/retrieval facility will be full in 10 to 15 years. However, the East Campus location - between the Tractor Test Track and Nebraska Game and Parks - could be expanded with two more 800,000-item storage modules. "Everything with this new facility has worked out very well," said Nancy Bush, assistant dean of the libraries. "It was built within the funding schedule, all the items were moved in on time and Gary and his staff are doing an excellent job sizing and organizing the materials. "This really has been a phenomenal project for the university." GO TO: ISSUE OF DECEMBER 8 NEWS HEADLINES FOR DECEMBER 8 Book storage rises to new heights Health Center sticks 500 flu vaccinations in one day Phishing scam targets UNL inboxes Report card indicates quality improving at UNL FROM THE ARCHIVES Universal effort keeps planetarium running 732288S35261X