Hi Barbara,

I have come to an academic library that also continues to lose space, or
just fills up what we have. The university is growing and adding
Masters' and now Doctoral level degrees which gives us a real challenge
to housing materials, as well as purchasing them. An important part of
my job is the constant weeding that we do. I am finding that we cannot
get rid of materials, but we can change the format of them. Titles may
be on databases that you have. Titles may also be procured on microfilm
and fiche. Our students and faculty are recognizing our ingenuity in
finding materials on formats that have smaller housing needs. We are
trying to get ceased materials on the microtext, as well as replacing
older volumes with the film format and leaving the latest 1-5 years on
the shelves. We have also made 2" wide pamphlet boxes out of the 4" wide
ones in order to reduce the shelving space when there are only a few
issues in need of protection. Sometimes binders take up less space as
well. We replaced the boxes in our Special Collection area by removing
300 4 " boxes and using 300 of the 2" ones, creating 8 shelves of space.
The microfilm replacement for print in all shelving areas has saved us
close to 150 shelves. I keep doing this year after year. Between the
binding, the box size reduction and the microfilm, we have been able to
gain enough space to buy and house some core materials from a backruns
dealer for a new PhD degree. We are a specialized and technical school
that requires more and more resources as well as more new tactics. Be
glad to work with you offline.

Tinker Massey
Serials Librarian
Hunt Library
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, FL
masse36e@erau.edu
386-226-6607

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Barbara A. Shipman
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 3:47 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Losing periodical space

I'm currently on a committee to help in the reorganization of our
periodicals floor.  Unfortunately, we will lose space rather than gain
space (no surprises there).  We will lose an area that houses our
current journals as well as a couple of ranges for our bound journals.
The periodicals will remain on the same floor.  As far as I know,
placing a some of the bound journals in the basement isn't a
consideration.  The challenging part for the committee is to figure out
how to work with the same amount of journals with less room.  I know a
majority of you have been through the same situation in you libraries.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could share your experiences with
me.  I hope to get some great ideas that will help our library
accomplish this challenging feat.

Thank you,
Barbara
 Barbara A. Shipman
 Acquisitions Department
 Kresge Library
 Oakland University
 Rochester MI  48309
 (248) 370-2482