Description of Facilities. Offsite storage in some cases involves use of a nearby annex and in others, housing in a more removed facility. Distances from the main campus vary considerably. California, for example, has two large cooperative facilitiesone in the northern and one in the southern part of the stateand for some of the libraries in the University of California system distances exceed 100 miles. At other institutions, the facility is less than a mile away.
Facilities reflect varying approaches in siting and design.
Some are built entirely underground, some are high-rise buildings, and still others were converted from existing warehouses or commercial buildings. Fifteen libraries reported using buildings constructed during the past 10 years. Older facilities often coexist with new. To maximize efficiency, shelves are designed to accommodate trays packed two deep with volumes of similar size. Materials Handling and Management.