The following sections provide guidelines to identify and physically prepare materials for specific storage locations. Please see section 5.8 for Information on the arrangement and description of oversize and special storage material.
Oversize Material
Any box larger than 14x18” is Oversize. Typically, material is classified as Oversize because it falls within one of two categories:
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An isolated piece pulled from standard size material, too large to be housed in a legal size folder.
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A body of similarly large material that cannot be reasonably accommodated in the main (octavo) shelving ranges.
Oversize material is shelved in designated oversize containers and shelving areas. These include: oversize boxes and portfolios shelved in folio shelving; broadside folders stored in broadside cabinets (with regular broadside dimesions of 42x33” and supersize broadside dimensions of 49.5x38”); rolled material stored in or around tubes in rolled storage (this storage location may also be used for portfolios that exceed 42” in both height and width), framed material hung in framed art ranges, and three-dimensional objects stored in objects cabinets. All boxes larger than 14x18” should be labeled as Oversize, including boxes shelved at LSF.
To ensure efficient and safe housing of items that are to be stored in folio shelving, folder and house material according to size, not in strict series order. Folder all material to be housed together to the size of the storage container (box or broadside drawer).
Rolled Storage
Rolled storage is an option for unbound sheets, such as maps, scrolls, rubbings, and architectural drawings, which cannot be stored flat in an oversize box or broadside cabinet. Material in rolled storage must not be brittle, be likely to become brittle, or be in fugitive media (e.g., chalk drawings; non-water based paints that might crack and flake), which are likely to be damaged by the inevitable rubbing of surfaces when something is rolled and unrolled, or by flexing of the carrier surface. The Preservation Coordination Librarian should be consulted to determine whether rolled storage is an appropriate option.
Rolling a Document in 5 Steps
1. Pencil the call number and folder number of the item on the verso, in the lower right corner.
2. Use tubes that are 3” in diameter and acid-free. The tube should be longer than the short dimension of the document. When the document is rolled on the tube there should be at least a 1.5” extension of the tube beyond the edges of the document. While an overly long tube can be cut down if necessary, it is preferable to use standard size tubes in order to facilitate shelving and stack maintenance. If the document is extremely fragile, wrap the tube with acid-free tissue or glassine to create a softer, smoother surface before rolling the item around the core. Alternatively, telescoping boxes may be available to house very large rolls.
3. Once the item is rolled over the tube, cover the document with heavy, acid-free wrapping paper. The paper cover protects the material from dust and light, and helps to secure it to the tube. The paper cover should be long enough to wrap around the document and overlap itself, and wide enough to extend beyond the edges of the document rolled on the tube and still leave the ends of tube bare. These ends protect against brushing or abrasion. If the material is extremely fragile, wrap acid-free tissue, glassine, or mylar around the document before applying the paper wrapper.
4. Secure the cover to the tube by tying a string around the middle of the tube. For longer tubes, additional strings at the top and bottom may be required to secure the wrapper and prevent it from being folded back or torn as the tube is removed from and replaced on to shelving.
5. Label and barcode the roll on the wrapper, on the end, using the box and folder labels printed from the finding aid. The labels should be oriented parallel to the bottom of the tube, so they can be read easily when shelved.
Art / Object Storage
Art and objects may be stored in Art/Object Storage, which includes ranges for hanging framed items and open bins for three-dimensional objects.
Record Album Storage
Most audio discs are fragile and should be stored upright. These are housed in tall boxes and shelved on designated shelves in the Beinecke stacks in the Wall Street building.