Like Wheaton, we're a liberal arts college library that's had portions of
our collection in compact shelving for many years. Our students (all
undergraduates) actually like the compact shelving because they find it
fascinating--and ours is manual, not automated. (We used to have automated
but had too much trouble with it breaking down.) I've even heard some of
our tour guides mention it on tours even though we have a beautiful library
with lots of stuff to brag about. I don't think it hampers them in finding
books. Call numbers are much more intimidating than the compact shelving.
--
Terese Heidenwolf
Director, Research & Instructional Services
Skillman Library
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
610-330-5153
On Thu, Jan 31, 2019 at 11:10 AM Steve Oberg <steve.oberg_at_wheaton.edu>
wrote:
> We’re a small, liberal arts college with FTE of just under 3,000, mostly
> undergraduates. We’ve used compact shelving in the lower level of our main
> library building, as well as in our Special Collections and Archives
> location in a separate building, since at least 2006. While I understand
> the concern, I don’t think it should be given significant weight,
> personally. Like other institutions, we do try to keep certain collections
> out of compact shelving (e.g. we have a Shakespeare Collection in this
> category, another example is oversize), but by and large, we use compact
> shelving in the same way as open shelving, and we have not experienced or
> observed that this presents a barrier to students. That is, unless the
> mechanics of the powered compact shelving fail, which they do at times.
> That’s another story.
>
>
>
> FWIW.
>
>
>
> Steve
>
>
>
> Steve Oberg
> Assistant Professor and Group Leader for Resource Description and Digital
> Initiatives
> Buswell Library, Wheaton College (IL)
> +1 (630) 752-5852
>
> Schedule an appointment <http://calendly.com/steveoberg>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *<colldv-request_at_lists.ala.org> on behalf of "Benedetti, Susannah"
> <benedettis_at_uncw.edu>
> *Reply-To: *"Benedetti, Susannah" <benedettis_at_uncw.edu>
> *Date: *Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 9:00 AM
> *To: *"colldv_at_lists.ala.org" <colldv_at_lists.ala.org>
> *Subject: *[ALCTS-colldv] Impact of compact shelving
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> UNC Wilmington is in the pre-planning phase of a library renovation and
> expansion. One of the options on the table is putting the circulating
> general collection into compact shelving. Most faculty that we surveyed
> seem fine with the idea (even in the humanities).
>
>
>
> We’re wondering how undergraduate students would be impacted since they
> can be intimidated or hesitant finding a book even in the open stacks. Is
> compact shelving a barrier to known item searching and/or serendipitous
> browsing, or is it “just one more thing to learn” about using the library?
>
>
>
> We would welcome any observations.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Susannah
>
> _______________________________________________________________
>
> Susannah Benedetti
>
> Associate Director, Library Technical Services and Collection Management
>
> William M. Randall Library <http://library.uncw.edu>
>
> University of North Carolina Wilmington | Wilmington, NC 28403-5616
>
> Phone 910-962-4243 | Fax 910-962-3078
>
> benedettis_at_uncw.edu
>
>
>
Received on Thu Jan 31 2019 - 13:29:03 EST