Most warehouses do not traditionally store jars filled with spiders, snakes, and other creatures of the wild. So when the University of Kansas Natural History Museum designed a 10,000 square-foot addition for specimen storage, people knew their storage demands would be somewhat unorthodox.

The museum needed to find a shelving system that would safely hold the 62,000 jars, tanks and other containers that hold its collection of 625,000 specimens. Because of space limitations, the shelves needed to offer very dense storage. This steered the designers to select mobile storage units on wheels. This type of shelving is economical, requires aisle ways and is easily moved as needed.

The specimens are also highly flammable. This demands a type of shelving that would permit the facility's sprinkler system to reach every jar in the event of fire. Wire shelving was chosen, as it would permit water hitting the top shelf to percolate down to lower shelves.

The wire decking on the shelves also had to be spaced close enough together so that the jars would not tip over easily. Lastly, a lip had to be built on each shelf so that the jars would not slide off when the shelving unit was moved.

The museum selected a square-post shelving unit using inverted shelves. The inverting of the shelves provides the lip needed to hold jars in place. The wire in the shelving also met the safety requirements needed for the specimens.

These new units have proven to be a good fit for the tight spaces of the museum.