Facing a shortage of shelving space in Lauinger Library, administrators have begun storing library materials elsewhere in recent years, as the university’s reserve of books off campus continues to grow.

Scrounging for space at Lauinger for newly acquired volumes, the university has been storing books and other library items with the Washington Research Library Consortium for the past three years.

Phyllis Barrow, director of finance and operations for Lauinger, said the six-floor library holds approximately 1.7 million different items — “volumes of books, government documents and microforms, manuscripts and rare book collections” — as well as 12,000 periodicals. With between 30,000-40,000 new items acquired each year by the university libraries, Barrow said that Georgetown has been sending WRLC nearly 10,000 items annually.

“Our rate of acquisition has not changed from previous years, and we do not plan on changing the amount of library resources that we acquire,” Barrow said. “We are, however, always concerned about space constraints that may hamper our services in the future.”

The WRLC holds almost 1.1 million books and the information technology for eight D.C.-area universities, including American University, George Mason University and The George Washington University. Barrow said the WRLC holds 181,000 items from Georgetown, but Lizanne Payne, executive director of the WRLC, said it has 225,000 items, as well as 2,500 boxes of manuscripts, at its Upper Marlboro, Md., facility.

“The items that are sent to storage are considered very carefully,” Barrow said. “The librarians consult with faculty in order to make a determination. We make the assumption that items selected for our collections will have lasting value. The only reasons we would deselect materials are because of extreme obsolescence, unnecessary identical duplicates or irreparable deterioration.”

Payne said many universities are employing off-campus storage to effectively “preserve the breadth of its holdings while also making room … for more recent materials and additional study and collaboration space.”

The books kept in storage are still available to students. They can be located in the GEORGE catalog, and one may request them to be delivered to Lauinger within one to two days. Journal articles can be scanned by WRLC staff and sent by e-mail to the requester.

The consortium itself is beginning to experience the spatial consequences of an ever-expanding library, Payne said. “Plans are being developed to expand the storage facility to hold an additional 1.5 million volumes,” she said. This project is expected to be completed within two years.

“In the meantime, WRLC has worked with the libraries to relocate archival boxes to a records storage company under contract with [the consortium],” Payne said. The boxes will be returned to the WRLC when additional space has been made for them.

Barrow said some students have complained about the limited, often-crowded study space in Lauinger. She said that the second floor of the library has been rearranged to alleviate some of the “seating crunch.” In addition, classrooms in Healy Hall have been opened for “late-night ‘overflow’ study.” Barrow said she is currently working with university architects to develop a plan addressing future space needs.

“We know that we are on the university’s capital projects space planning for the future,” Barrow said.