[Nhcoll-l] Compactors in collections

Mon Dec 20 03:06:18 EST 2021

OK - back on the subject:

I hope the two attached images get through. We basically moved collections
from a rather space-gobbling "before" to a much more efficient
space-utilizing "after".

Note the perforated tops of the compactors: not only the tops, but also the
middle is perforated (each compactor is double-sided, with a perforated
partition in the middle) - this helps to keep up an acceptable level of
ventilation.

The thin lines you see across each shelf - these are metal guardrails that
can be detached quite easily. We can also change the height of the
guardrail at will, suiting it to fit the height of shorter (smaller) or
taller containers. If we are really worried about something falling off, we
can also fit a second guardrail or more on the same shelf - the metal rods
fit into the same slits utilized for changing the height of shelves. We did
consider the option of fixed guardrails formed by folded shelf edges, but
that appeared to us too limiting, considering that objects going onto the
shelves can be of very varied heights (and staff working in collections can
display very varied levels of patience to deal with this!). Since taxonomy
arrangements don't really go along the lines of "same size containers
should be together", it was important not to limit ourselves if we could
find a good alternative - the metal rods may not save us in a giant
earthquake (nothing will!) but they can and do stop "walking jars" in case
of vibration and can help prevent accidents due to moving shelves. In reply
to a question raised here, I do not think that just making the shelves
"anti slip" (a non-smooth surface) would be sufficient for safety purposes,
plus it is easier to clean smooth shelf surfaces.

Our compactors were installed in the basement floor. We gave up on the idea
of compactors for our herbarium, which is on the third floor, due to risks
related to floor carrying capacity. Mind you, basement floors may not crash
down like third floors, but they can sink - we did consult with our
institute's engineers and hope that our decisions were correct. Our
engineers had plenty of work because already at an early stage I found that
the existing floorplans were not accurate and all the measurements had to
be re-done - I had our engineers do it as well as the compactus company
reps so we could compare plans and work out our needs with better
precision. In the usual fashion of making bids, we got offers from several
compactor companies and pressed very hard for our institute to choose the
right one for us, not necessarily the cheapest offer. That turned out to be
extremely important, because working with experienced professionals made
all the difference in the world. They knew more than we did about fire
safety requirements as well as basic accessibility requirements, our input
was more about paying attention to all kinds of small detail such as pipes
sticking out here or an old tap that needed to be removed there, vents in
the wall and quirks of the room layout - in addition to measuring and
counting different types of containers that had to be planned for, such as
large wheeled containers that needed floorspace planned especially for them
along the walls or along non-moving (fixed) shelving.

I'll add one more note for now - the new compactor shelves for the wet
collections are not particularly deep - 30cm mostly. That was because
discussions with the curators led us to the understanding that deep
shelving could give more storage space but the curators would feel
uncomfortable "fishing" for containers on deep shelves. The compactors for
the dry collection were a different affair entirely and were planned along
two requirements - (1) a group of shelves had to be dedicated to housing
extra large objects, 90cm deep and (2) most other shelves needed to house
our most commonly-used type of box so they are 45 cm deep even though
obviously boxes may be changed with time. The dry collections also have
detachable metal rod guardrails, but do not have partitions in the middle:
Packing in boxes as opposed to lots of small jars made partitions
unnecessary, plus if required we can fit in longer objects to fit 45+45cm
of a double-sided compactor in some places (there are, of course, internal
shelving supports preventing that in some places as opposed to others along
the shelving).

Finally, a thought: following the discussion in NHCOLL-list, yes, moving
shelves may not be our ideal choice for objects since we don't want our
objects to move at all. If you can get a new storage space with good
industrial strong fixed shelving that is possibly the best. However, we
were stuck with our limited storage spaces and had to consider both the
expansion of collections and the need to protect our objects. Slow moving
compactors apparently give us the best compromise between the two because
in best cases they can double available storage space, and they can be shut
close to help protect objects within. Limitations in space-saving will be
mostly due to H&S and accessibility requirements (height limited by fire
preventing systems, width of aisles dictated by the need to pass through
with a wheelchair, as well as with loaded trolleys, passageways required in
a straight line from existing doors, etc.).

Best wishes,

Gali

On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 6:12 PM Ann Bogaerts <
ann.bogaerts at plantentuinmeise.be> wrote:

> Hello everybody,
>
> We wish to renovate our herbarium with 4 milj. specimens and we want to
> get some feedback from other institutions who already renovated or renewed
> their collection buildings.
>
> One of our main questions is the use of compactors yes or no? So what is
> your opinion about this? How much space do you save using a compactor and
> how is it working with this kind of system? For which collections do you
> use it?
>
> We are really interested in the do's and don'ts and it would also be nice
> if you could send us a picture of the compactors you use.
>
> Thanks a lot and enjoy your evening (day),
>
> Ann
>
> --
>
> <http://groenepioniers.be/bioblitz/>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
>

-- 
Gali Beiner (ACR)
Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
National Natural History Collections
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Fax. 972-2-6585785
*gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>*

*https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en <https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en>*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20211220/bb746916/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Before.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 76918 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20211220/bb746916/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Almost after.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 87958 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20211220/bb746916/attachment-0001.jpg>