Hello! There is no doubt that wood and wood products (plywood and cie) offgassing can be damaging to collections in storage or on display. That being said the risks of using of those materials as building materials, shelving or display cases should be evaluated from a larger context. It is often a cheap and flexible solution to many designs while its price and availability makes it a reasonable option, especially for smaller institutions. It is then a question of evaluating the direct threaths of offgassing to your objects and of balancing the importance of those effects against other threaths to the collection. - What objects compose the collection? Metals, textiles and paper are particularly sensitive to wood offgassing, other materials much less. Will the objects be enclosed in archival quality materials and boxes? You can thus create small microclimates that will protect sensitive objects... - What are the conditions inside the storage area? What are the finishes on the walls, floors? Is the space well ventilated? Can there be time between the new shelving's installation and the collection move? What kind of wood is it? Will a stable lining material be added on the shelves? - What are the environmental factors that could influence the quality of air inside the storage area? Sources of pollution can be critical... - So finally: What is then the relative importance of the presence of wood shelves in your storage area? The Canadian Conservation Institute has recently published a Technical Bulletin addressing coating options: "Coatings for Display and Storage in Museums". This could be helpful to define the best coating for your conservation needs on the already selected shelving system. It can be ordered from their online Bookstore at http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/ Good luck! France Cliche Heritage and Museum Consultant, Sillery, Quebec. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).