Talk:Library stack

Introducing other senses of "stack"
This article appears to address only one sense of the word "stack" as it refers to library architecture. Generally, stacks are anywhere books are stored, and the modular iron system (which I am interested in providing additional information/articles on) referred to in the article is only one phase in a long history. I'm planning, once I have the citations in line, to give this article a significantly wider scope. Of course, if there are issues with that, or a more appropriate page already exists, I'd like to know. Thanks. Benjames15 (talk) 21:40, 11 June 2015 (UTC)
 * While stack may loosely be used to mean "the main shelf area", I think you'll find that to trained librarians a stack has the specific meaning used here -- note that over at Library we have:
 * The stack system involves keeping a library's collection of books in a space separate from the reading room. This arrangement arose in the 19th century. Book stacks quickly evolved into a fairly standard form in which the cast iron and steel frameworks supporting the bookshelves also supported the floors...
 * which I think neatly straddles this ambiguity. In any event, to the extent stack does mean just "a lot of shelving", there's nothing further worth saying, really. EEng (talk) 06:16, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I've tried to avoid making the article about "lots of shelving" but I did find some interesting precursors to the Gore Hall stack and a little bit about what became of the system. It's what I wanted to know about when I started researching this.  Hope it's interesting. Benjames15 (talk) 19:39, 21 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I also thought the quote at the beginning was awkward. Hope this is clear.  Kept the passage about the structure. Benjames15 (talk) 19:45, 21 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I think it's great that someone else besides me is taking an interest in the subject -- I honestly didn't think it would ever happen. Two observations:
 * I think Gore's claim to fame is that it was the first time, on a large scale, that the shelving system was itself the building's structural support, but we need to nail that down
 * I think we should make clear that while stack for a long time meant the narrow-aisled-etc-etc-and-so-on-and-so-forth approach, it gradually lost that meaning, at least in the context of some kinds of libraries, as open "stacks" became more and more the usual policy.
 * Sooner or later I'll track down more sources and we can have a fun time talking about this. Great photos, huh? EEng (talk) 20:11, 21 June 2015 (UTC)