Collectors: storage options, climate control, etc.

[VegettoEX]

Hey, all:

My place serves as the primary headquarters for the Kanzenshuu archive collection. Heath has all the Weekly Jump issues contemporary to Dragon Ball, but beyond anything of his own that he also has kicking around, eeeeeeeeeeeeverything else lives with me. Everything I've always owned, everything I've continued to purchase, everything Julian has sent me in batches over the years from Japan... it's all here.

I've converted one of my finished basement rooms into the recording/archive room, and it's filled with book shelves that have long since seen their best days, plastic bins, and piles and piles of unsorted crap (some in front of other things on shelves... which doesn't help when I'm looking for something specific).



It needs work.

Part of the issue is the insane weight of Saikyo Jump (and old video game magazines!) in particular, which destroys shelves.



I've lost an entire unit to the crushing weight of this stuff.

What shelving recommendations do you have? Price isn't necessarily an issue, so I'm willing to check out whatever you recommend. Something with real sturdy shelves that won't bend too sadly over time. The room is a weird height due to being a finished basement room; I can have shelving units go as high as 70 inches, which seems to simultaneously be shorter and taller than most, but I want to make the best use of the vertical space that I do have. Height within a unit for the shelves needs to be adjustable to account for the varying heights of all the gazillion types of magazines.

(Most "newer" magazines -- and by that I mean post, say, 2010 -- are just out on the shelves. Most older magazines are at least boarded and bagged as best can be, and things like ancient Fresh Jump, V-Jump, and Weekly Jump issues are stored in plastic bin drawers.)



Also... what do you do for climate control, and is this even really an issue? We're not quite at the point yet where I'm investigating, like, actually securing museum-esque storage space. It's just a room in my house for now. I have a (very small) dehumidifier in there, but I'm not sure if that's making things better or worse for the books. Old magazines are naturally going to dry out anyway, so how bad can it really be, right? I actually have no idea. Temperature? Humidity? How much can or should I control for? It's certainly not a "damp" room at all, and it stays cool all summer long...

So I'm really looking for any suggestions and guidance here, both on actual things to purchase (namely solid shelving units), as well as best practices on keeping the space in good archival shape. Whatever ya' got from personal experience, external resources to read or watch... I'll take 'em! Thanks!

[Magnificent Ponta]

I work in the Archive Sector in the UK (retrieval, not conservation, but a couple of basic things tend to 'osmose' from working in the general environment). I don't want to be over-long here, but there are some very general things that might be recommended, and some resources that may be of use.

For the paper and card items among your collection, a temperature of 17 degrees Centigrade is recommended if you can achieve it, as is Relative Humidity of approximately 50% (at least, that's how it is in the institution I work for, to a 1 degree and 5% RH margin of error either way, though other institutions may make other recommendations; a stable environment is also important: you want to protect against 'seasonal drift' in, e.g., temperature). You may also consider placing your thinner items in acid-free archival folders, and these in acid-free archival boxes to secure the immediate environment further - not only does this protect against UV (light) damage/fading, but a properly-fitted box will also form its own seal, affording at least some protection if you're ever unfortunate enough to be in a salvage situation. But differing media have, obviously, differing optimal environment requirements to be kept stable. If you're able to sort different kinds of media into different collections stored each according to their optimal conditions, all to the good.

Public Archives and Libraries tend to issue advice to the general public on various facets of storing your own archives, on their own websites. Here are a few relevant links I can find, from a very quick search:

Archive Principles and Practice, The National Archives UK (PDF) - contains basic working principles of undertaking archival storage and arrangement, and the document has helpful links elsewhere (including to things like archive storage material suppliers).
Preservation of your Collections, Library of Congress - contains guidance on storing documentation of varying formats archivally (including Comic Books and lots of other formats)
Preservation Guides, British Library; lots of PDF Guides, which does include guidance on storage furniture and monitoring the environment. Take your pick of what you think is most relevant.

In terms of actual storage suppliers, I'm familiar with Bruynzeel and Slingsby - not so sure about US suppliers, but most serious archival storage suppliers should be able to offer something vaguely similar, so it may be worth looking through their supply lists, if only to help narrow down the kinds of things you may be after (though Bruynzeel are a professional supplier to dedicated archival institutions, so may be a little high-end for what you want, but it may still be worth having a look - at the very least, they have static library and archive shelving. Slingsby are more general, and only part of what they do is storage/racking). Whatever you select, you'll want to give some thought to there being enough space around the items for easy retrieval - you also want something that can be cleaned easily, to protect against damage from dust, or pest infestation.

Hope this helped, even if only a little.

[Planetnamek]

For the VHS tapes it's best to keep them standing vertically as opposed to horizontally, as reels can fall out during the rewinding process if tapes are kept horizontally for too long. I actually had that happen to a rare tape I sent to someone else to rip(as it was a very rare movie that wasn't legally available elsewhere), it's fixable sure but better safe then sorry.

[bernhard90]

Hi! Good to hear that I am not the only one who was searching for good strorage!

I searched for months and think I got the perfect solution! These racks are metal galvanized and realy heavy for its size!
You can also adjust the shelves! They are in different sizes (for dvd's and also sizes for books).

It's a dutch product but maybe it helps you further.

https://cd-rek.nl/product-categorie/cd-rek-producten/

[KPike87]

Right now, all my DVD's and Blu Rays are in plastic tubs under my bed. Initially I thought it'd just be temporary, but it's cool down there, and not possibility of sunlight hitting them, so I might actually just leave them there to keep them in decent shape. Pulling them out really isn't a hassle.

[KBABZ]

Right now, all my DVD's and Blu Rays are in plastic tubs under my bed. Initially I thought it'd just be temporary, but it's cool down there, and not possibility of sunlight hitting them, so I might actually just leave them there to keep them in decent shape. Pulling them out really isn't a hassle.

It's not as storage-efficient but I actually keep my DVDs and Blu-Rays in some drawers with rollers on the compartments. It makes it really easy to quickly pull something out!

[KPike87]

Right now, all my DVD's and Blu Rays are in plastic tubs under my bed. Initially I thought it'd just be temporary, but it's cool down there, and not possibility of sunlight hitting them, so I might actually just leave them there to keep them in decent shape. Pulling them out really isn't a hassle.

It's not as storage-efficient but I actually keep my DVDs and Blu-Rays in some drawers with rollers on the compartments. It makes it really easy to quickly pull something out!

Good call, I might see if I can squeeze one in, if only for video games because I pull those out a lot more.

[KBABZ]

Right now, all my DVD's and Blu Rays are in plastic tubs under my bed. Initially I thought it'd just be temporary, but it's cool down there, and not possibility of sunlight hitting them, so I might actually just leave them there to keep them in decent shape. Pulling them out really isn't a hassle.

It's not as storage-efficient but I actually keep my DVDs and Blu-Rays in some drawers with rollers on the compartments. It makes it really easy to quickly pull something out!

Good call, I might see if I can squeeze one in, if only for video games because I pull those out a lot more.

Awesome! I have my games on shelves because I pull them out most often (and I like seeing them all together), while the DVDs and Blu-Rays are in the drawers since they are far less common.

I will say do some research and practical tests on how deep the drawer compartments are and how far you can pull them out, especially for DVDs. With mine the drawers don't pull out all the way so anything in the back I can't actually take out without moving stuff further forward, which is a problem but I use them so rarely that it's only an occasional issue.

I think the thing I like most about the shelves and drawers (aside from storage/display) is that it makes them feel so available and accessible. With the spines on display I get a much better visual idea of what and where everything in my curation is. This would be harder for VegettoEX who have magazines and VHS tapes that can't be stored vertically like my drawer solution, though.

Anyways, here's both the shelves and the drawers:

Spoiler:

[Planetnamek]

In my room i've got a bunch of old wooden shelves that used to hold a bunch of books my parents had collected over the years, I later convinced them to move their books elsewhere so I could put my own stuff on the shelves. Fortunately these shelves are sturdy as they were built to last with how big and heavy some of those books were. Though i've filled all three shelves and i've taken to putting stacks of DVDs and games elsewhere on my computer desk and on my table.

[JulieYBM]

I originally bought my corner BILLY bookcase to house my US Monthly JUMP issues from Viz but those have remained in my closet on a shelf, stacked upon each other as a result of...well...shoving all of my other books and shit onto the BILLY. I've got some pretty heavy books stored on my BILLY and while it's held up insofar the case is only about a year old anyway. My suggestion would probably be storing your heavy stuff in something else, maybe a long-box with quality protective packing? I'm not exactly read-up on preservation, though, so take what I'm sellin' with a grain of salt. Shelves seem like a losing battle to me when it comes to such heavy items.

I wonder what Pekin Daq uses for their collection? From the photos I've seen of their Weekly JUMP collection they have multiple cases stacked upon one another so I wonder if those cases are holding up for them at all? Maybe ask them how they preserve so many issues of Weekly JUMP?

[Cursed Lemon]

Get a shelf with shorter runs and you might have better luck, for example.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I was lucky enough buying my house that one of the guestrooms was spacious enough we could corner off one end to use it as a storage space. Inside there's pretty standard IKEA billy bookcases but they hold all my media, including DVDs and Blu-Rays. It also isn't as insolated as other areas of the house and away from direct sunlight so should be reliable enough for keeping all my discs in good condition for as long as need be. As a place it's my pride and joy and somewhere I can go to and feel nostalgic even before taking a case to the sitting room when I want to play a disc.