Library and Archives Storage and Preservation

FAIN: PG-50653-09

San Diego Air and Space Museum (San Diego, CA 92101-1636)
Katrina Burke Pescador (Project Director: May 2008 to October 2010)

The purchase of shelving to accommodate the museum's library and archival holdings. These materials constitute one of the nation's most important primary source collections on the history of aviation and space exploration and are actively consulted by scholars, students, aviation enthusiasts, and other aerospace museums and libraries worldwide.

The Museum's Library & Archives has outgrown its primary space and has spread to several locations throughout the building occupying over 5,190 square feet. Because of the scattered locations of these collections, access, for the purpose of research by Museum staff and volunteers, as well as researchers, has proven to be both inconvenient and time prohibitive. To address the serious lack of space for the Library & Archives collection, shelving is required to replace the inadequate storage currently being used. For instance, materials in vertical files will be rehoused in archival boxes and stored on open shelves. This will reduce the footprint of the current collection by allowing us to use our vertical space. Additional shelving is also necessary to store collections that are presently being stacked on the floor due to limited space.