Lipman shelf

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Lipman shelf in the magazine of the Scientific City Library Mainz
Magazine of the State Library Unter den Linden with Lipman shelves and accompanying book trolley (1949)
One floor of the store of the State Library Unter den Linden shortly after the restoration was completed, still without shelves (2008)

The Lipman shelf is a metal shelving system with adjustable shelves. It is mainly used in libraries and archives.

prehistory

Until well into the 20th century, libraries were equipped with fixed shelves made of wood. Disadvantages were the flammability of wood and the fixed height of the shelves. Once installed, shelves could no longer be easily moved. Because of the different book formats, a reserve of space had to be planned in each case, especially since at that time it was preferred to set up systematically.

One attempt to make the shelves more flexible was the introduction of the Panizzi pin , which is inserted into pre-drilled holes and supports the shelves. Wooden shelves, however, could not be made very wide because they tend to bend over time.

Robert Lipman

Robert Lipman was a German art locksmith . He developed a shelving system made of metal, in which the shelves had a standardized length (usually 1 meter) and were to be hung in two serrated strips at the back. This allows the shelves to be easily adjusted in height. The system was first used in 1889 in the Imperial University and State Library of Strasbourg , today's Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg .

Further development

The toothed strips can be provided on both sides so that shelf boards can be hung on both sides. If the vertical support strips are screwed to the floor and ceiling, there is no need for more complex support structures. In continuation of this idea, the strips were incorporated into the statics of the library building as supporting pillars. The Lipman shelf was first installed in this form in 1897 when the library at the University of Marburg was rebuilt . The first archive with a self-supporting shelf system was probably the General State Archive in Karlsruhe .

advantages

  • Gaining space through optimal adaptation of the shelves to the book heights and the small space requirements of the shelf elements
  • good ventilation and exposure of the shelves, as the shelves are largely open at the sides
  • lower risk of fire

disadvantage

  • If the vertical supports have a static function, they cannot easily be moved.

use

The exclusive supplier of Lipman shelves was the Strasbourg patent bookcase factory System Lipman. Wolf Netter & Jacobi , who had to leave Alsace after 1918. Among other things, the new building of the Mainz City Library in 1912 and the new building of the Berlin State Library (Haus Unter den Linden) were equipped with this system (designed for 3 million volumes, the shelving system comprises six floors and 18,000 square meters). In 1926, the new building of the Lübeck City Library received a cantilevered magazine over five floors.

At the first international exhibition for the book trade and graphics (Bugra) in Leipzig in 1914, Wolf Netter & Jacobi showed a three-storey free-standing shelving system that attracted a lot of attention at home and abroad. In addition to the shelves, the company produced a complete range of equipment for archives and libraries with items such as bookends, signature frames, book trolleys, storage tables, desks, filing boxes in wood and steel, capsules for cards and archive materials and the associated cupboards, cloakrooms, etc.

The magazine of the Scientific City Library Mainz (2009)

Lipman shelves in a modern library building

Lipman shelves were widely used in new library buildings until the 1950s. Since they no longer met the newly emerging demands for more flexibility and optimal use of space (cf. the “Ten Commandments of Library Building ” by Harry Faulkner-Brown ), they were replaced by systems and mobile shelves (Compactus ® shelves ) that were not connected to the building . The Lipman shelving system of the Mainz City Library has been in operation without interruption since the new building in 1912.

Monument protection and restoration

The six-storey Lipman shelving system of the Staatsbibliothek Unter den Linden, with a height of 28 m and a length of 180 m, is a listed building . It was extensively restored in several construction phases from 2006 to 2007 and from February 2010 to January 2013.

literature

  • Wolf Netter & Jacobi: archive systems and library buildings; Lipman system. Berlin: Elsner 1930

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See, for example, the report of the American delegation in Library Journal 39 (1914), p. 592
  2. ↑ See the catalogs in the Wolf Netter & Jacobi Collection and the advertising leaflet Der Moderne Bibliotheksbau. on the occasion of the 20th Librarian's Day in 1924
  3. ↑ Information and pictures about the restoration
  4. ↑ Information and pictures about the restoration