College and Research Libraries


Operation Book Shift 
By D O N A L D P. H A M M E R 

ANEW $800,000 BOOKSTACK addition completed in November 1958 made 
it necessary to shift the entire one-and-a-
half million volume bookstack collection 
in the University of Illinois Library. 
Over a period of about f o u r months the 
work of fifty students, each working from 
twelve to twenty hours a week, three 
half-time deck supervisors, a n d the full-
time bookstack librarian was needed to 
complete the project. Since this move 
was made while normal service was pro-
vided in the library, only a part of the 
deck supervisors' and the bookstack li-
brarian's time could be devoted to the 
project. T h e cost of the move amounted 
to about twelve thousand dollars. 

T h e new addition consisted of ten 
floors or decks with about twenty-two 
h u n d r e d shelves or about a fifty thou-
sand-volume capacity per floor. T h e older 
sections of the bookstacks also consist of 
ten floors, b u t with about five thousand 
to fifty-five h u n d r e d shelves providing a 
book capacity of about a h u n d r e d and 
fifty thousand volumes per floor. 

As in every library that reaches ca-
pacity or near capacity, many of the 
Dewey classes in the old b u i l d i n g had to 
be broken at undesirable places in order 
to provide shelving space for rapidly ex-
p a n d i n g subject fields. At best, many 
patrons find a large library difficult to 
use, a n d such a condition of separation 
only intensifies the difficulties. It was 
hoped that this new addition would 
make possible a better shelving arrange-
m e n t on some of the floors. I n many cases 
this proved possible; in a few cases no 
improvement could be m a d e because of 
a lack of shelf space for f u r t h e r expan-
sion in spite of the new addition. 

It had been previously decided that 

Formerly on the University of Illinois Li-
brary staff, Mr. Hammer is now Head, Serials 
Unit, Purdue University Libraries. 

the expansion available on each floor 
would be most useful in the f u t u r e by 
d i s t r i b u t i n g it m o r e or less e v e n l y 
throughout all the shelving. T h i s deci-
sion made it necessary to account for all 
available expansion in both the old and 
new stack additions. 

T h e first step in p l a n n i n g the occupa-
tion of the new stacks was to determine 
the exact a m o u n t of expansion in terms 
of whole shelves that would be available 
on each floor in both the old and new 

T h e problem of accounting for all the 
odds and ends of empty shelving was 
solved in a very unconventional way. A 
piece of ordinary string was used as a 
measuring device. 

A piece of string as long as a shelf was 
matched with as many empty portions 
of shelves as was necessary to reach the 
end of the string. This, then, indicated 
that one empty shelf was available. T h i s 
procedure was continued throughout the 
bookstacks until the n u m b e r of empty 
shelves on each floor was determined. 

At the same time an actual count of 
all shelves, utilized or not, on each indi-
vidual floor was made. 

I n accordance with the decision men-
tioned previously, it was necessary at this 
point to determine how m u c h expansion 
per shelf was available. T h i s was f o u n d 
by dividing the n u m b e r of empty shelves 
in the old and new stacks as determined 
through the use of the string by the total 
n u m b e r of shelves both used and empty, 
old and new. 

As an example, if through the use of 

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 393 



the string it was determined that there 
were 2,527 empty shelves on a certain 
floor, and by actual count it was deter-
mined that there was a total of 7,757 
shelves, b o t h utilized and empty, on the 
same floor, the 2,527 was then divided by 
the 7,757. T h i s indicated that there was 
.325 expansion available per shelf. T h e 
decimal figure then had to be converted 
to inches to be useful. T h i s was done by 
multiplying the decimal figure by the 
length in inches of a typical shelf; that is, 
.325 X 35 = 11.375. T h i s indicated that 
approximately eleven inches expansion 
could be left available on each shelf when 
the books were shifted on that particular 
floor. 

After it was determined that sufficient 
f u t u r e expansion was available on each 
floor for the preferred arrangement of 
the various Dewey classes, it was felt 
necessary to present the preferred plan 
in graphic form to all staff members con-
cerned. T e n large floor plans were pro-
vided, one for each floor of the building, 
showing the exact position of all shelv-
ing. T h e proposed position of the m a j o r 
Dewey classes on the various floors with 
the possible expansion determined as ex-
plained above was illustrated by colored 
paper thumbtacked over the position of 
the shelving on each plan. T h e colored 
paper represented the area occupied by 
each class including expansion. T h i s 
method made it simple, by moving the 
colored paper from place to place on the 
floor plans, to prove or disprove the feasi-
bility of each staff member's hypotheti-
cally suggested shelving plan. In this 
m a n n e r a definite arrangement for all 
classes was agreed upon, and the actual 
book shifting could be done with confi-
dence that the books intended for a 
certain area would fit into that area with 
sufficient space for expansion allowed. 

T h e last of the mechanical problems 
involved was the need for a method that 
would maintain the planned expansion 
per shelf d u r i n g the actual shifting. Ob-

viously, this could not be done by eye 
alone since most of us are poor judges of 
space a n d distances. T h e use of rulers 
would certainly m a i n t a i n constant ex-
pansion, b u t they would be clumsy to 
use. 

T h i s difficulty was overcome by cutting 
2" X 4 " blocks of wood the length of the 
intended expansion to be left per shelf 
on each floor. T h e block was then placed 
on the right-hand side of a shelf as the 
shifting progressed and the books were 
shelved u p to it. A book end was then 
p u t in place, and the block moved to the 
next shelf, ad infinitum. 

T h i s system, with its detailed plan-
ning, eliminated much of the guesswork 
from the shifting, and the a m o u n t of ex-
pansion planned per shelf was main-
tained. 

O n the whole, the system worked well. 
T h e expansion, however, had to be ad-
justed in some individual areas as the 
shifting progressed because of h u m a n 
error or because of the expansion needs 
of some subject fields over others. 

I n a few places the system did not 
meet expectations because of the lack of 
close supervision. As an example, the 
total n u m b e r of shelves needed on each 
floor was known, b u t as the work pro-
gressed no record was kept of the num-
ber of shelves removed or added in order 
to adjust to the varying height of books. 

It cannot be stressed enough that ac-
curacy in using the string and in count-
ing shelves was an absolute necessity. 
Carelessness in accounting for the odds 
and ends of empty shelves can easily 
throw off the whole approach. It is ob-
vious that three inches or so ignored 
throughout several thousand shelves will 
total u p to considerable shelf space. 

Many people contributed ideas toward 
the development of this shifting system, 
and most of those people spent many 
hours in p l a n n i n g and supervision. It 
was only through this detailed p l a n n i n g 
that the system was successful. 

394 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S