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Library storage is traditionally viewed as a space management strategy, a way of dealing with overcrowded buildings and growing collections. Storage also is implicitly a preservation strategy: an alternative to weeding, cramming books tightly on shelves, stacking them on the floor, or not purchasing them in the first place. Among its obvious preservation benefits, storage provides security from theft and vandalism, and protection from spills and pests caused by increasingly prevalent food and drink in library buildings. Although transfer to storage may be risky for fragile materials, leaving them in stacks that are constantly being shifted is likely to be more damaging. Many storage facilities provide better environmental conditions for collections than old or poorly maintained modern library buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to offrer a reflective look at PASCAL (Preservation and Access Service Center for Colorado Academic Libraries) in the larger context of off‐site storage facilities and practices

The article includes an analysis based on five key points of cooperative repository projects that were made by Vattulainen. The five points are applied to this case study of PASCAL, a shared collaborative off‐site storage facility.

Concerns are discussed in the five key areas: Concept of ownership, Provision of buildings, Management of repositories, Relegation decisions and User needs,

This article contributes a case study to the discussion of collaborative off‐site storage, with implications for both the immediate region and for larger networked systems that may exist in the future.

This paper aims to discuss some relevant issues in the design and operation of material handling and storage systems (MH&SS) characterized by complex material flows and high‐traffic intensity. The paper seeks to provide solution examples and an analysis methodology to face large increases of materials flows through a redesign of the material handling and storage system.

At first, possible strategies to improve system performances when facing strong increments of material flows are presented and discussed. A significant case study is then analyzed in order to present a practical application of the proposed methodology. Resorting to discrete‐events simulation, the alternatives are verified, correct design choices are identified, and the resources are properly sized to develop a streamlined layout.

The paper recognises that design and upgrade of intensive material handling systems is a complex task asking for a careful study of alternatives and detailed system analysis, otherwise capacity problems and bottleneck phenomena may not be effectively solved.

This work focuses on a specific case study. The paper, therefore, will be of interest mainly to managers and designers of similar plants and large – intensive material handling systems.

The paper shows how the correct planning and analysis of design alternatives integrated with a detailed system simulation enable a drastic reduction of bottleneck phenomena, thus meeting the required capacity improvement goals when upgrading and redesigning complex and high‐volume material handling systems.

The paper, while providing insights to practitioners engaged in design and management of complex MH&SS, outlines a methodological approach which can be useful when facing major capacity improvement projects.

Solar energy applications are limited because of its intermittent and discontinuous availability with respect to time. Hence, solar energy thermal conversion systems need integration with thermal storage units (TSUs) to use solar energy in off sunshine hours. This paper aims to perform thermal analysis of a solar air heater (SAH) integrated with a phase change material (PCM)-based TSU to supply hot air during night period.

An experimental setup with TSU as main component was prepared with SAH at its upward side, food chamber at its downward side as subcomponents. In TSU, paraffin wax was used as thermal energy storage material. Mass flow rate of air considered as an input parameter in the experiment. Two different absorber plates, namely, plane and ribbed absorber plates were used for the experimentation. Each day for a fixed mass flow of air, observations were made during charging and discharging of PCM.

Nusselt number and convection heat transfer coefficients were analytically calculated by considering flow through TSU as external flow over bank of tubes in a rectangular duct. A temperature drop of around 7-8°C during charging of PCM and temperature rise of around 4-5°C during discharging of PCM was observed from the experimental results. The average practical efficiency of TSU with ribbed absorber plate SAH during charging and discharging of PCM was 22 and 6 per cent, respectively, higher than that of TSU with plane absorber plate SAH.

There are no limitations for research on SAH integrated with TSU. Different PCM including paraffin wax, Glauber’s salt, salt hydrates and water are used for thermal storage. Only limitation is lower efficiency of SAH integrated with TSU because of lower heat transfer coefficients with air as working medium. If it can improve heat transfer coefficients of air then heat transfer rates with these units will be higher.

There are no practical limitations for research on SAH integrated with TSU. Sophisticated instrumentation is needed to measure flow rates, temperatures and pressure variations of air.

In poultry farms during night, chicks cannot survive at cold climatic conditions. Hence, hot air should be supplied to poultry farms whenever the atmospheric temperature drops. It is proposed that, in combination with TSUs, heat produced by SAH is stored in day time in the form of either sensible or latent heat and is retrieved to provide hot air in the night times. This will reduce total operating costs in poultry farms.

Conventionally, people are producing hot air by combusting coal in poultry forms. This cost around Rs. 75,000 per month for a batch of 225 to 250 chicks in a poultry form. Hot air could be produced economically during off sunshine hours from SAH integrated with TSU compared to the conventional method of coal burning. Present experimental investigations conducted to fill the literature gap in this area of research and to design a SAH integrated with TSU to produce hot air for poultry forms.

Cooperative storage is essentially the sharing of a space within a facility, while collaborative storage implies a shared approach to the collection in terms of growth, shape, management and access. Collaborative storage provides a more efficient use of resources. This study is an investigation of the physical options, rather than of digital storage. However, the study does reflect on the prospective relationship between these two responses. The tension is an emerging issue and one which is not yet placed in the policy context of a local, regional or national perspective.

This research aims to develop a model for describing and analysing materials supply systems (MSSs) design in product development projects (PDPs).

Literature on materials supply and production systems design is reviewed in order to derive a MSSs design model. The model is applied to empirical data from a qualitative case study, which exemplifies how the model can serve to describe MSSs design in PDPs. Moreover, the model is used to analyse the empirical data related to the focus and characteristics of the design issues.

The model developed contains six areas: materials feeding, storage, transportation, handling, packaging, and manufacturing planning and control at four levels: supply chain, plant, sub‐unit, and utility.

Future research could complement the model by developing a design process to enable systematic design of the MSS as well as the integration of materials supply aspects at an early stage of PDPs. Such a design process should also consider the design of the flows of specific components.

The importance of considering the relationships between the six design areas as well as evaluating the whole MSS is highlighted.

The paper focuses on the materials supply aspects dealt with in PDPs, which have been the subject of little research interest so far, despite the fact that extensive resources are required for materials supply activities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ongoing life cycle of the world's first library Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) at the Oviatt Library at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Born from the pilot project at the California State University Chancellor's Office, CSUN's ASRS was inaugurated in 1991 and cost over $2,000,000 to implement. It survived a devastating 6.8 Northridge earthquake and protected the collection housed within. Almost 20 years later the CSUN ASRS underwent a major renovation of hardware. With the changing concept of library as space and the construction of Learning Commons at the Oviatt, the demand for ASRS capacity is higher than ever.

In addition to the history and overview, the paper explores the major aspects of ASRS administration: specifications of storage layout and arrangement of the materials, collection policy for storing materials, communication of retrieval requests and ASRS interface and compatibility with successive Integrated Library Systems.

The first ASRS served as proof of concept that a library collection does not lose its effectiveness when low-circulating materials are removed from the open stacks. Furthermore, with the changing concept of library as space and the construction of Learning Commons at the Oviatt, the provision of the nimble, just-in-time collection becomes paramount, and the demand for ASRS increases exponentially.

Administrators and librarians who consider investing in ASRS will learn about the principles of storage organization, imperatives and challenges of its conception and long-term management on the example of CSUN.

The paper carries unique qualities as it describes the formation and evolution of the world's first library ASRS. The visionary undertaking not only withstood the test of time and nature, it continues to play a pivotal role in Oviatt Library's adaption to the new generation of users’ demands and expectations.

In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics, problems and achievements particular to the documentation and handling of non‐book materials (NBM) in many types of libraries. The materials are briefly described and considerations of selection, acquisition, organization, storage and in particular bibliographic control are dealt with in some detail. Other areas of concern to the librarian dealing with media resources, including the organization and training of staff, planning, equipment, exploitation and copyright, are also discussed. The past decade has seen the widespread introduction of NBM into libraries as additional or alternative sources of information. Librarians have been given an opportunity to rethink many basic principles and adapt existing practice to encompass the new materials. The survey reflects the achievements and some of the failures or problems remaining to be solved in this rapidly expanding area of library work.