Managing Competing Interests with Off-Site Storage

The University of Virginia Library has had a twenty-year history of off-site storage for its growing collections. As our need to store things off-site has grown, so have the growth of a comprehensive preservation program and the preservation goals of off-site storage. Ivy Stacks, the Library’s off-site repository, opened in 1994, with books stored in boxes. A major renovation from 2010-2012 expanded that building’s capacity by installing both high density shelving and sorting the books by size. Approval for an additional (and likely final) building to augment the current facility was granted in 2015. Library staff is currently in the throes of determining an array of potentially conflicting goals and hopes for the new facility. Initially, the new facility will store our humanities and social sciences collection that will be relocated during a renovation of the building that houses them. Possibilities and challenges under consideration include: positioning Ivy Stacks to be a shared print repository given its central location within the state; creating specific housing environments for some of our specialized non-book materials; maintaining faculty desires for browsable and easily accessible collections; and creating flexible spaces that can adjust to our changing needs over the next twenty years. This paper will explore the factors that are influencing programming designs for the new facility.