Dear Bernie Barron,
Aside from muscle, tendons, and/or nerves strain - perhaps from
retrieving and/or filing too many items *in one session?*) - it seems
not common sense to stuff each plastic wallet or (acid-free?) cardboard
folder (your initial message and first response state both kinds of
container), even if each is capable of storing up to 40 maps, to
capacity or beyond. Thus one possible un-necessary reason why "Two
people are now required to lift a folder of maps".
Unless each and every map is almost A0 format and on heavy paper, and/or
the plastic/cardboard is 'heavy duty', surely the priority would be to
reduce the number of sheets in each wallet? And/or to find wallets
(thrown out my another department?) that are lighter and sufficiently
strong but can still accommodate a reasonable amount of sheets? Perhaps
this could be an interim measure (assuming you have somewhere to
*horizontally* re-store 'surplus' sheets)? And give H&S something more
useful to do?
Many of us can bear out April's practical observation that some maps
will inevitably become "damaged from slipping down in the folder and
being crushed" (or even 'squished'), especially when mixed-size sheets
are intertwingled . . .
Have you tried 'shopping around' within the University and trying to
convince another department that it can't live without vertical file
storage, and effect a swap (even partial)? Getting rid of those
dreadful suspended wallets/pockets/containers is another early option.
In the erstwhile RGS Map Room (and still now) the OS 6-inch county
series quarter sheets, and the USGS quads from 1880s onwards, are very
happy being vertically stored - but with dividers every so number of
sheets that are 'lift-outable' - by *one* person without H&S 'advice'.
Francis Herbert, ex-Curator Maps, RGS-IBG (even if I do "date back to
the 1960s and have been designated as a health and safety issue")
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for issues related to map & spatial data librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of April Carlucci
Sent: 16 January 2008 16:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Suspended map folders
Hello Bernie
How nice to be referenced in your message, and that you found the
article
helpful! Thus, I don't have to recount the issues around vertical versus
horizontal storage for you. Oddly, I was just thinking of hauling the
article out for my current colleagues here at Yale, as I was recently
given
a selection of maps to catalogue which had been just put aside in a
vertical
file for me. Needless to say (and aside from the health, safety and
common
sense issues), some of the maps were already damaged from slipping down
in
the folder and being crushed. Some silly excuse about being able to lock
the
vertical cabinet, when of course you can buy horizontal cabinets that
lock
as well (or, as Andrew Cook will attest, you can always fix a locking
mechanism on the horizontal cabinet locally). If one says that all the
other
issues in vertical v. horizontal balance themselves out, the safety of
the
maps always comes down on the side of horizontal: sure, you may squish a
map
occasionally in horizontal cases, but it's guaranteed you will in
vertical
cases.
But you've got a lot of cases to replace, so good luck with the people
with
the money!
Regards
April
April Carlucci
Catalog Librarian for Maps
Yale University Library
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for issues related to map & spatial data librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bernie M Barron
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 7:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [lis-maps] FW: Suspended map folders
Hello Richard,
The present cabinets are metal vertical storage types containing A0
cardboard folders. The folders are extremely tightly fitted and very
heavy. The article by April Carlucci in The Cartographic Journal, vol.
42 no.3 2005 highlighted the problems she experienced too!! The photo
(figure 11, page 250) is similar to the ones here (ours have no
mechanisms).
Both myself and other staff have experienced health issues over the
years unfortunately (neck, shoulder, arms, back) and this is how health
and safety became involved. Two people are now required to lift a folder
of maps.
Thank you for your comments regarding re-filing, I will pass them on.
Bernie
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for issues related to map & spatial data librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Oliver
Sent: 16 January 2008 12:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Suspended map folders
>Our present cabinets ... have been designated as a health and safety
issue...
I would be interested to know why: what sort of cabinets are they? Is
this yey another thing for map librarians and other interested parties
to have to worry about?!
If the wallets are in effect large envelopes which the maps can only
ingress and egress through a single slit, then in my experience they
are not very satisfactory, particularly when the maps have to be
re-filed back in them.
Richard Oliver
On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:13:36 -0000 Bernie M Barron
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Sorry - the attachment was rejected, so trying again without it !!!
>
> Bernie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bernie M Barron
> Sent: 16 January 2008 10:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Suspended map folders
>
> Dear lis-mappers,
>
> Has anyone any experience of map cabinets consisting of plastic A0
size
> wallets suspended in a frame? Each wallet is apparently capable of
> containing 40 maps. Our present cabinets date back to the 1960s and
have
> been designated as a health and safety issue, so we need to replace
> them. I have been asked to check if anyone has any experience of this
> type of system ?
>
> I attach the illustration we have been given.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Bernie
>
>
>
>
> Bernadette M. Barron
> Map Librarian
> The Map Room
> The University of Hull
> Cottingham Road
> Hull
> HU6 7RX
>
> Tel. 01482 465551
> email:[log in to unmask]
>
> Website :
> http://www.hull.ac.uk/lib/using_our_libraries/Services/maplibrary.html
-------------------
Richard Oliver, B.A., D.Phil., F.B.Cart.S.,
Research Fellow in the History of Cartography
School of Geography, Archaeology & Earth Resources
University of Exeter
Exeter, EX4 4RJ
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