This summer marks a major milestone in the Library of Congress mission to preserve and provide access to its wide range of collections as the ten millionth item is transferred to offsite storage. Since the Library’s collection is continuously growing, it is essential to rely on offsite storage for managing such a vast and varied collection.
History of Storage at the Library
In 1897, almost a hundred years after the Library’s founding, the Thomas Jefferson building opened. With the Main Reading Room in the center, this building was all set to house the current Library’s collections. However, partially due to the revisions from the Copyright Act of 1870, the Jefferson building stacks ran out of space in just thirteen years. Instead of building a second Library building, it was decided that the courtyard space would be leveraged for Library stack construction. By the 1930’s, however, space was again scarce so the John Adams Building was constructed. The center of the Adams building is comprised of twelve levels of bookstacks. Overall, both the Jefferson and Adams building hold about 17 million books.
Over time, the Adams building stacks filled up and it was clear that there was a dire need for other storage solutions for the Library’s collections. Since construction space on Capitol Hill is limited, the solution was for the Library to switch its focus to remote storage.
With a collection as variable and vast as the Library of Congress, it is imperative to be careful when considering offsite storage solutions. When searching for potential locations, the Library required that the site would be within an hour of Capitol Hill. Another requirement was that the site would be land and not buildings. Not only is the Library our national library, it is a library of record, meaning that stringent preservation standards are of the utmost importance to ensure the copies of books held at the Library will last as long as possible. The Library therefore was seeking to construct buildings to meet these standards instead of retrofitting existing structures. Finally, the Library consistently receives material from various outlets all over the world, so it was necessary to find a property that would allow for future building and expansion. The Collections Management Division, who are the custodians of the general collections, receives about 200,000 items per year alone.
In 1993, Congress approved transfer of 100 acres within Fort George C. Meade base from the U.S. Army to the Library of Congress. This acreage provided space for the Library to begin construction of its offsite storage facility. The first module at the Fort Meade facility was opened in 2002 and since then, five additional modules plus a cold storage vault have been added. In addition to the Fort Meade facility, the Library leases a separate building known as the Cabin Branch storage facility. The Cabin Branch facility was opened in 2016 and provides additional storage for both processed and unprocessed collections.
The offsite storage facilities allow for customization to fit the existing preservation needs of the Library and enable incorporation of state-of-the-art technology in construction and operations. Storage modules preserve materials in a strictly controlled environment that maintain temperature and humidity levels appropriate to specific formats, filter out damaging pollutants, and illuminate with lights that do not emit harmful ultraviolet rays. These conditions are proven to slow deterioration and significantly extend the usable life of collection items. Materials are protected from unnecessary handling, water damage from leaking pipes or roofs, insect and mold infestations, and environmental contaminants such as dust and dirt.
Selecting Collections for Offsite Storage
For the Collections Management Division, items are primarily sent offsite based on space availability. This means that all new single volume monographs are sent directly offsite due to limited room for growth in the stacks. In addition, retrospective books and serials are selected from areas where overcrowding exists and are transferred offsite to free up space. This process helps to clear space onsite for the constant stream of incoming items.
Besides general collections, there are more than 2 million books from the Law Library, the Asian Division, and the African and Middle Eastern Division in offsite storage. In addition to books, more than 400,000 archival containers of special collections are kept offsite, which range from large maps to microfilm reels and everything in between.
Preparing for Offsite Storage
Preparing an item for offsite storage is so much more than putting it in a box and sending it to the facility. First of all, the item is meticulously inventoried. The inventory process ensures that the item records in the Integrated Library System are completely accurate. In addition to ILS inventory, the item is given a physical inventory. Once barcode is added and linked to the ILS record and the appropriate offsite labels are placed on the item, the item is sent to the Madison building for its next stage of preparation.
In the Madison building, the item is accessioned into the inventory management system FETCH, which is the primary tool for management and retrieval of offsite items. This involves sizing the item, placing it in a conservation-approved tray box with other items, updating the inventory records of the tray and the items, placing stickers on the trays, and more. These trays are then placed in metal security bins specifically designed for safe transport of Library material and delivered offsite for shelving.
Shelving Offsite
Placing a tray box of items on a shelf offsite is a process that requires stages of planning. For each new module that is built offsite, a planograph is generated (for more details, see the 2023 post about the planograph). The planograph contains all the information on number of shelves, shelving size, and capacity. Then, spaces are assigned to the various custodial divisions that use offsite storage. As items from these divisions are sent offsite for processing, the team at Fort Meade consults the planograph to determine their final shelving location. After a certain number of hours from the accession time, a program is run to update the item’s status to “available” in the catalog for patron requests.
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Fulfilling Requests
Ultimately, safe storage is the goal for items sent to offsite facilities. The need for preservation needs to be balanced with the need for access, as items will also need delivered back and forth to the Library for circulation to researchers, LC staff, InterLibrary Loan partners, Kluge scholars, members of Congress, and more. The average number of daily requests for items kept offsite is around 300. Retrieving this number of requests is an impressive feat, as team of less than ten staff total at both facilities manage this very tightly controlled circulation process.
For retrieval, the offsite staff consult the ILS (Integrated Library System) to create a list of items requested. The lists get uploaded into FETCH (the inventory management system). Handheld devices allow staff to pull items from all modules and scan them as they are pulled. The items are then returned to a processing room for more verification steps, and then finally are boxed and stored in specially designed transport conveyances for delivery to Capitol Hill. There are two deliveries every day from both facilities, and if patrons have their requests in by 11am they are usually fulfilled the same day.
As you can imagine, offsite storage operations are a large focus for the Collections Management Division. The ten millionth item sent offsite is a big accomplishment for the Library, and we look forward to the next ten million.