Shelving the items in your office.

Ah shelves! What an invention. Do you ever consider what goes on a shelf? In a nutshell, your shelves are the home of:

1. Items you're bound to use within the next two weeks

2. Items too large to fit into a filing cabinet or collections of like items

3. Projects in progress

4. Items that represent supplies, and hence go in supply cabinets

1. Items You're Bound to Use Within the Next Two Weeks

These would include reference books and directories, phone books, manuals, instruction guides, and possibly magazines, especially large issue magazines; that represent annual directories and theme issues.

2. Items Too Large to Fit into a Filing Cabinet or Collections of Like Items

Due to the difficulty of filing thick items such as books and magazines, any item of width is better housed on your shelves than within your file cabinets. Any oversized item that will not fit in a file cabinet, and any item that is part of a continuing or building series, is best housed on your shelves.

If you receive a key industry publication and it makes sense for you to hang on to back issues, these also belong on your shelves. You can acquire magazine holders (pre-cut, self-assembled cardboard boxes or preassembled plastic molded boxes) that hold about 24 issues of a magazine. The box enables you to stay in control. It's visual and you can label it. It makes it easy to grab one issue among the many you're retaining, or to replace an issue.

3. Projects in Progress

If you're working on a project and there are a variety of items involved, the magazine box storage system will work well. If you keep your shelves behind your seat at your desk, you can keep one shelf compartment clear to lay file folders fiat upon it. This can serve as a way station and helps keep your desk clear.

It's better to have stuff behind you than in your immediate work area. Since you face many demands during the day, and may have to draw upon several folders representing different projects or tasks, it makes sense to have a flat surface, even among your shelving units, that accommodates these active files.

You can employ stacking trays as well, except they then become semi-permanent collections of paper, rather than projects in progress.

4. Items That Represent Supplies, And Hence Can Go in Supply Cabinets