8 replies to this topic

[Hans van der Maarel]

Hi everybody,

Recently got fed up with the herds of maps and atlases that were roaming around over here, so I got some small bookcases from Ikea to neatly tuck everything away. Aside from a few dozen atlases, I've collected a pretty decent amount ("hundreds", I've never counted them) of folded maps. I was wondering whether anybody had some recommendations on how to neatly store them. I tried filing boxes, but there's a lot of wasted space there as they're not deep enough to hold 2 levels of maps on their sides (unless I pack them with narrow maps, AAA ones work just fine but anything wider doesn't). At the moment I have some of them stored in shoeboxes in the attic, but that's not exactly an ideal solution imho.

Any ideas?

[Charles Syrett]

Here's a possible solution. I had a handyman build a kind of hybrid bookcase with pigeonholes (or build yourself, if you have the time and inclination) -- see pic: http://www.mapgraphi.../MapShelves.jpg . Then I sorted the maps and labeled the pigeonholes. As you can see, a lot of maps still don't fit properly!

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

Hi everybody,

Recently got fed up with the herds of maps and atlases that were roaming around over here, so I got some small bookcases from Ikea to neatly tuck everything away. Aside from a few dozen atlases, I've collected a pretty decent amount ("hundreds", I've never counted them) of folded maps. I was wondering whether anybody had some recommendations on how to neatly store them. I tried filing boxes, but there's a lot of wasted space there as they're not deep enough to hold 2 levels of maps on their sides (unless I pack them with narrow maps, AAA ones work just fine but anything wider doesn't). At the moment I have some of them stored in shoeboxes in the attic, but that's not exactly an ideal solution imho.

Any ideas?

Attached Files

•  MapShelves.jpg   199.36K   51 downloads

[Matthew Hampton]

Great idea Charles!

Some day I might tackle the mess that fills several file cabinet drawers.

Your classification system would work perfect for me, although I doubt I would have a separate cubby for Canada. I suppose I would have to file that under International.

[Charles Syrett]

Actually, that pic only showed a small part of the collection. I have several slots dedicated to the USA! And here's another bookcase -- one shelf with just cities in Canada. For easy finding, they're sorted geographically, W-E. Victoria BC is way over on the left, and St Johns Newfoundland is on the right. This wouldn't work as well for sorting US cities -- I have to do those alphabetically.

You can also see a book shelf there with an odd assortment: everything from Imhof's "Cartographic Relief Presentation" to "There's a Map on My Lap!" from The Cat In the Hat's Learning Library.

Great idea Charles!

Some day I might tackle the mess that fills several file cabinet drawers.

Your classification system would work perfect for me, although I doubt I would have a separate cubby for Canada. I suppose I would have to file that under International.

Attached Files

•  AnotherShelf.jpg   243.8K   61 downloads

[rudy]

Hans -
Having moved recently all of my folded maps are still in boxes but what I've done in the past is get some of those magazine type boxes (for example >) and categorized my maps according to geography. Then I took the time to create little maps that indicate the geographic extents of the maps in the magazine box and attached them to the spine of the box. Not an elegant solution but its expandable, cheap and enables you to use regular bookshelves instead of building custom ones. It also looks a bit tidier than seeing and collection of maps on the shelf (unless you like that look).

[natcase]

A few years ago, we got a great deal on some big racks which I think were made for medical records or something similar. Gray plastic bins hang off of rails in the middle, forming rows of "shelves". On one side we keep most of our reference material: books and atlases, manila folders of large flat maps folded down, and white cardboard boxes with our regular folded map titles. The white cardboard boxes were bought in bulk from a local corrugated box maker to exactly fit the plastic buckets (they are about 11 x 7.5 x 5" (28 x 19 x 12.5 cm) when sealed). It's a big improvement having almost all our paper resources to hand in one location, especially as more and more of our research is done on line and the library is used less frequently, making it easier to forget where we put things...
 maprack1.jpg   116.01K   92 downloads

We use the other side for a master library of our projects, and a "pick bin" area for small-quantity orders:
 maprack2.jpg   426.57K   93 downloads

This all could have been accomplished with shelving, but somehow the buckets make it easier. I think with long shelves it's easier for the "tilt and slide" effect to kick in and leave everyhting in a heap.

I wish I could find a manufacturer name for the thing, but there's no ID on he bins or any I can see on the framework, Sorry.

[Dennis McClendon]

My digicam's in my other coat today, but I have my folded paper maps standing two abreast in ordinary file drawers. I bought a bunch of two-file-drawer pedestals at a used office furniture place, and ordered a countertop to fit on top. Pieces of foamboard are friction fit in the drawers to divide it left and right, and I use stiff dividers to keep the maps from slumping in the drawers. I have 12 file drawers to cover North America. (Maps outside North America are at home).

For historic maps that I want to better protect, I assemble a good-quality cardboard file box (USAns call these Bankers Boxes) and glue it together. Then I cut the top half off, leaving a flat sturdy box that's 11 x 14 x 7 inches and has a close-fitting lid. Maps go on their sides, again separated by frequent stiff dividers to categorize them and keep them from slumping. The boxes are easy to stack and handle without damaging the maps inside.

I bought some very narrow bookcases for DeLorme and Eureka atlases, again to keep them from slumping. But at one point I was going to simply add wood uprights to a regular size bookcase to achieve the same effect.

National Geographic and similar folded maps go in file cabinets. B I G hardbound atlases live on top of the countertop.

Unfortunately, this means looking in four places to find all my maps of, say, Louisiana. But all libraries are compromises between categorization and storage efficiency.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Thanks everybody.

Looks like any major imrovements will have to wait until 'my next house/office'... But I'll see about getting some sturdy magazine bins, they look like they might do the trick.

[frax]

Dennis, some pics would be cool - I have a hard time to visualize exactly what you describe.

(I am not a collector/hoarder though!)