IRIS Photos

Getting Ready for the Annex Moving Project

Xin Li

After a year of construction, the three new additions to the Annex look more and more like part of a beautiful, expanded home on Palm Road. As we get ready to move in, it is a good time to review where the project is.

Background
CUL print collections continue to grow at a rate of over 100,000 volumes a year. Since 1997 the Library has added more than one million volumes to its holdings, and the existing Annex facility reached full capacity in 2004. The university very generously approved a schematic design and authorized construction of three new modules and an auxiliary loading facility. The construction, which began in October 2004, is expected to be completed this month. The three modules will each provide equivalent storage space of 1.6 million volumes. At its completion the facility will have a steady temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and relative humidity of 30%. The first module will be fully constructed with shelving installed. The second will have HVAC and vertical shelf posts but will not have shelves. The third module will be built as a shell with neither HVAC nor shelves. The plan is to complete the shell when the first two modules reach capacity.

Project Goals and Scope
The goal of the Annex Moving Project is not only to provide immediate relief of stack pressure, but also to create adequate stack capacity that allows efficient and cost-effective stack management, which in turn supports long-term, steady growth of the library collection. With this in mind and a budget of $867,000, the project aims to move close to one million volumes from libraries on campus to the Annex in a two-year period. Libraries that will be full by 2010 are first in line for the move. Moving quotas have been generated based on the growth rate and stack capacity of each library unit. These quotas were discussed and adjusted based on feedback from the libraries.

Project Planning
An Annex Project Planning Committee consisting of key staff members from various library departments was formed in late 2004. Since then, the committee has been working closely with other library committees, individual departments, and unit libraries on a wide variety of planning issues.

Selection Strategies
The project targets to move two groups of materials into the Annex: first, pre-1851 publications, known as the medium-rare materials, that are currently shelved in the open stacks. The controlled environment at the Annex is ideal to safeguard and preserve these valuable collections.

The second group to be moved is low-use materials. It includes ceased serials, as well as monographs that have not circulated since their records have existed in Cornell’s online catalog (dating back to NOTIS). The low use makes the materials ideal candidates for remote storage.

To prepare for the move, pick lists of titles have been generated from Voyager and distributed to selectors responsible for particular areas. The selectors will review the titles and often check the physical items in the stacks. Materials that selectors decide to keep in the stacks will be crossed off the lists. All medium-rare materials are being manually pulled from the stacks by selectors and staff. After review/pulling, Library Technical Services completes barcoding and record updating.

Physical Move
A moving schedule has been jointly developed by the project committee and the unit libraries. Special accommodations have been planned whenever possible. The project will hire several term-appointment employees. They will work in teams and follow a well-planned schedule to systematically move volumes from libraries to the Annex. Special attention will be given to keep disruption to a minimum.

Services during the Move
Regular operations at the Annex will continue uninterrupted. Users can request materials or visit the reading room for on-site use as usual. The newly moved materials will be available on request from the Annex forty-eight hours after they leave the library shelves.

The regular operation at the Annex will continue uninterrupted.  Users can request materials or visit the reading room for on-site collection use as usual.  The freshly moved materials will be available for requests from the Annex 48 hours after they leave the library shelves.  For information about the Annex, its services, and the Moving Project please visit the new Annex website.

Next: Brainstorming with Penn State