Storage Tips - Loose Manuals


	Most people probably won't go through too much trouble to store their loose manuals, as it's easy enough to just throw them in a box or plastic container. We originally just stored manuals in large freezer bags which in turn were placed in smallish plastic bins. However, you can't fit too many manuals in one bag and it started to become difficult to find individual manuals. So, after searching for over a year we finally found a relatively inexpensive way of storing manuals. The picture at left shows more Iris storage units, the same company that produces the plastic drawers we use to store loose cartridges in. Each unit has three drawers. They cost $22.99 at Office Depot (stock #03-11108, Iris model #SC-203D), and as you can see in the picture we bought two of them. They also come in two-drawer versions (Iros model #SC-202L). Unfortunately they are not made to stack, but that didn't prevent us from putting the second unit on top of the first. It hasn't been knocked over yet. :) We have my manuals broken out by system, with two drawers for 2600 manuals, one for Intellivision, and the last for other systems (5200 and ColecoVision, mainly). The shelves are a perfect height and width for the typical 2600-size manual.
	Here's a picture of one of the drawers open just a bit. As you can see, most of the manuals are stored vertically, but some of the larger manuals are on their side to the right of the vertical manuals.
	Here are two shots of a drawer pulled completely out, with front and back views. As you can see from the back view, we're using a bookend to keep the manuals in an upright position. They sometimes slip, but for the most part do the job fairly well. The bookends were $2.99 per pair at OfficeMax.
	The bookends, in case you've never seen any before. :) The key is to get bookends that won't slide around. If you look at the larger picture you'll see that it states, "With non-skid padded base". They still slide a little, but it'd probably be much worse if they didn't have the padded base.
	Ahhh, but we're not done yet! Although it's not easily evident in this picture, each of my loose manuals is stored in a plastic bag, along with a stiff backing board. These protect the manuals and keep them from bending. The backing boards measure roughly 7" x 10 1/2". Most of the time you'll need to cut these backing boards before you can use them.
	To use the smaller paperback bags that will fit most manuals (see the loose carts section), you'll need to cut the backing boards into 5 1/16" x 7" pieces. This will leave you with a small leftover piece that you can discard. The backing boards are most easily cut with a large paper-cutter that has a stop you can use to set the cutting width, as shown in the picture.
	The backing board after being cut into three pieces. Unless you can find a use for the thin piece on the right, you'll probably throw it out (or recycle it!) as we did.
	Example of a manual too large to fit in the smaller paperback bags. What we do in this case is use a whole backing board, along with a larger Silver Age comic book bag. These then fit in the manual shelves on their side (which you can see in some of the pictures above).
	Storing the manuals in clear-plastic bags also makes it easier to keep track of overlays for systems. Here's an example of the Intellivision game AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin, complete with two overlays. You'll have to take our word that there are actually two overlays here. :) Since the time this picture was taken, we've come across an even better way to store overlays, which you can see over here.