Reducing Journal Stacks: How Tufts University's Hirsh Health Sciences Library Made Electronic Journals Work for Them

Abstract

In 2007, the Collections Management department at Tufts University's Hirsh Health Sciences Library (HHSL) reduced journal stacks to make room for additional seating and classrooms as part of a renovation to the Medical School's Sackler Center for Medical Education. Additional space was necessary to accommodate the library's increasing role in education and research at the medical school and a growing student population. Offsite storage with compact shelving was under construction nearby. Journals were identified for offsite storage by focusing on print titles that came with an online equivalent rather than using chronology to shift journals offsite. The goal was to keep storage retrieval requests to a minimum for patrons and staff.

Keywords:

• offsite storage
• electronic journals
• library renovations
• health sciences libraries
• journal back files
• space allocation

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge our library director, Eric Albright, for his support and guidance, our colleague Felix Hernandez, for his help in providing stack and volume details, and Stephanie Fitzgerald, for her assistance.