Stack song
Belinda Harding in the Central Stack
The ‘stacks’ at the National Library of Australia are just that. Stacks and stacks of not only books, but newspapers, music scores, maps and manuscripts—just to name a few categories of material. Organised differently from that of a public library, the collection at the National Library is primarily housed in a closed stack. This means that researchers, readers and visitors are not permitted to physically browse the collection. Instead, items are requested online from the correct stack area and the material is supplied to readers through the building’s reading rooms, with a delivery time of 30 minutes or less. Older or ‘low use’ publications housed offsite take longer to retrieve.
The Stack Services staff walk kilometres every day to retrieve and file material. It’s hard work, physically and mentally, but it’s difficult to feel bored around books! So much stimulation.
When I first heard of the ‘stacks’ at the National Library, I imagined that the collection would be housed above ground. In fact, because the collection is so large, there are also two stack levels below the ground floor, which means that most readers in the Main Reading Room literally wait for their books to ‘be sent up’.
Lower Ground 2 (LG2) houses the Central Stack area. This is where material arrives in batches from surrounding areas to be sent up in the book lift. It is also where used material is sorted and distributed back to the correct shelves. Not only do Central Stack staff members have to retrieve and file their stock, but they must load and unload the robot trolley named ‘Charlie’.
‘Charlie’ is guided by sensors between Central and the ‘East’ and ‘West’ stacks. This greatly reduces kilometres on foot, although the trolley only travels at about one kilometre per hour (beeping regularly to let you know where he is).
To the north, and adjacent to Central, is the Lakeside stack area. This is the largest stack area within the Library but the most straightforward to learn. New staff train in Lakeside for this reason. I remember being overwhelmed with the expansive collection while trying to learn all the prefixes and terminology—q, Np, AN, Dewey numbers, Cutter numbers—the list goes on!
Although all the stack areas on LG2 have different collections, the compactus shelving is common throughout. The movable shelves save space and allow for collection growth. It is an urban myth that lives have been lost between the shelves; in fact, the units are stable and safe.
Above LG2 is the Lower Ground One (LG1) stack area. In contrast to Lakeside , the LG1 stack is the most complicated to learn. In addition, LG1 staff retrieve material from the special collections which must be hand-delivered to the Petherick Reading Room for scholars and researchers. Items in these collections must be handled carefully because some of the material is ‘one of a kind’—including the book that is reputed to be covered in human skin.
Also on LG1 is the newspaper and microform stack. A staff member from Stack Services is responsible for maintaining this collection. This involves filing used material, creating room for new materials and shrink-wrapping bundles of newspapers. The current project involves shrink-wrapping all of the Australian newspapers published before 2000.
The Library also leases two off-site buildings—both in Hume, an outer suburb of Canberra about 15 kilometres from the National Library. The old warehouse contains overseas serials and newspapers. The building is freezing in winter but, after three hours of physical work in the middle of July, I was stripping off my winter woollies.
A short drive away is the Annexe, which also houses lower use overseas collections. Looked at from the outside, the building resembles an indoor rock-climbing centre because of its sheer height. Higher than any wall I have ever climbed, are columns and columns of books. The staff at the Annexe use a ‘cherry picker’ to retrieve and refile material. One needs to obtain a special licence to ‘drive’ this vehicle.
Preparations are being made for a new warehouse to be completed in 2006. The Library will own this warehouse and construction will begin shortly.
All of the above mentioned stack areas use electronic call slips. When readers in the Main Reading Room place their request, it is transferred to the appropriate stack area, where it prints automatically. Different coloured call slips are used to determine where the material is located. Pink, white, yellow, green, blue and purple correspond to Central, Lakeside , West, East, LG1 and the Warehouse/Annexe respectively. We even have some readers who submit electronic requests from home in the small hours so that material will be waiting for them when the Library opens.
This account is only a précis of what happens within the stacks at the National Library. When retrieving any material from the stacks, one needs, patience, determination and well-developed forensic abilities. When filing, one needs concentration and precision. Like any job, what you put in is what you get out. If you approach stack work with a relaxed and open mind, you will be repaid with positive and stimulating experiences.
Belinda Harding,
‘Stack of All Trades’