The two other things to consider in your planning are:
  1. Shelf depth.  Shelves for periodicals should be at least 9" deep; 11" is even better.
  2. Amount of free space between top of volume and bottom lip of shelf above.  To avoid pulling on the top of the bound spine to remove a volume from the shelf, there needs to be enough space for someone to reach comfortably in to the top of the volume in order to press & tip it forward to grab -- at least 1.25".  The alternate removal technique of pushing back the volumes on either side of the desire volume doesn't always work for periodicals for two reasons; buckram covers tend to stick together and there is a tendency to shelve periodicals together tightly -- especially when they are backfiles and in compact shelving.
********************************
Carol E. Eyler                            
Head of Technical Services        
Carleton College Library        
Northfield, MN 55057   
voice (507) 222-4268
fax (507) 222-4087
email: ceyler@carleton.edu
********************************

From: "Robin Hutchinson" <rhutchinson@STLAWU.EDU>
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 11:19:24 AM
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] oversize

The Economist used to be oversize years ago, but now it is standard North American magazine size; about 11 inches high.   Your student employee may be looking at some very old Economist volumes.  We have compact shelves, and one of the drawbacks or limitations is that you cannot fine-tune your shelf height to different non-standard or extra large volume sizes.  The most convenient shelf height with our compact shelves is just right for a standard magazine or government document (11 inches in height.)   To adjust the height for larger magazines etc., you lose one entire shelf per section.  (That’s my experience, anyway.)

 

Robin Hutchinson

Serials and Government Documents Librarian

Owen D. Young Library

St. Lawrence University

Canton, NY 13617

 

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of bpope
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 11:45 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] oversize

 

Hello, everyone out there in Serials-land. 

We are looking at getting compact shelving soon.  I have been asked to find out how much of our bound periodicals area is considered oversize, as it may have be shelved separate from compact shelving.  What is considered oversize with bound volumes?  A cataloger in our tech services said anything over 30 cm (11.8 inches).  By that definition, according to my student employee, Economist magazine is oversize, which does not seem right to me.  Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

 

Barbara M. Pope, MALS

Periodicals/Reference Librarian

Axe Library

Pittsubrg State University

1701 S. Broadway

Pittsburg KS  66762

620-235-4884

bpope@pittstate.edu