The best archival boxes for books are the Ziploc WeatherShield 44 Quart Storage Boxes. We have chosen this product to be the best as it makes the most sense for such a need.
It provides efficient book storage and it is has a high-quality air insulation. As you know, the paper carries bacteria so it’s best to keep books safe, but at a distance from you.
Also, it is easy to order your book storage boxes. In fact, you can check the price of the Ziploc box on Amazon right now. It comes in a pack of 4 and you can also use it for other storage purposes.
These aspects and the price made us choose the Ziploc WeatherShield 44 Quart Storage Boxes. We think they are probably your best choice for book storage.
Table of contents
The competitors for the title of best archival boxes for books
The other products we have evaluated are a generic container box from an unknown source and cardboard archival boxes named the Bankers Box.
The Bankers Box Stor/File Heavy-Duty Storage Boxes are nice, but they have no archival property for books whatsoever. They win the fight for the price, but we don’t think they are ok to hold books in. They can easily get infected with bacteria and they are not spill proof. This can be a problem when you don’t store them in an archival estate.
The generic container was ok but price wise it is more or less the same as the Ziploc. Therefore we choose the Ziploc over it because it had a clear source and we could be sure that the quality of the plastics is as labeled. We will also not feature it anymore, as it’s quality is worse than the Ziploc and the cost is more or less the same.
What aspects of archival boxes for books we evaluated
We evaluated 3 main aspects for the archival boxes. The first one was its storage capacity, the second was protection and the third one cost.
The protection the archival boxes for books offer
We look at this aspect because we want everything inside to be protected. More precisely, we want to make sure all our books are safe from bacteria, dust or even spills. Spills occur, especially in home storage. In this sense, we would definitely prefer a plastic box over a cardboard box.
Yes, there is some talk that plastic is not good, that paper does not breath and it could catch bacteria. Still, we think it’s much safer for you personally for your own health they are locked. Before protecting the books, you should make sure you are not inhaling dust from the paper.
Storage capacity archival boxes for books
We want the storage capacity to be quite big. That is simple, you just go for the biggest box. But, as with everything, it’s not that simple.
If you buy the biggest box, you will never manage to carry it. A normal book has around 300 grams. Now multiply by 30 and it’s about 10 Kilograms. But in a big box, you will be able to store around 100 books easily. So the final weight will set you back 3 kilograms. So please, don’t go this route.
The perfect balance is a decent size archival box which you can carry even full. We would say not more than 50 books per box. That is good enough and you can at least manage the weight and move them around.
Decent costs for archival boxes for books
Costs of archival boxes for books are very important. It is one of the deciding factors when buying. It can’t cost a fortune, otherwise, you would never buy it.
At the same time, at least for your personal health, we think it is worth to invest in such products. There will always be a cheaper solution, but we want to find the best compromise between the two.
What we like about each type of archival boxes
We will try and take each of the products and show you what we like about them and what we look for in each one.
Positive aspects of the Ziploc WeatherShield 44 Quart
This Ziploc box is made of decent quality plastic. I could not say that it is the best plastic, I couldn’t say it’s the worst. But, being made by a reputable brand, more or less you know what to expect.
It will resist most shocks and hits. You can easily mount or unmount the cover of the box. It also features nice cover clamps to look it in place. The cover has some form of insulation and this is of help to you and the books. While the books will not be exposed too much to the outside, neither will you expose yourself to them.
Positive aspects of The Bankers Box Stor/File Heavy-Duty Storage Boxes
This archival is advertised as a file archival box. As you probably know, archives use such boxes, especially when they have very large quantities of documents. So in this sense, it’s easy to label, it is all square so it can be efficient and it has decent storage capacity.
Not to mention the fact that it is quite a bit cheaper than it’s competitor. You can check the Bankers Box price on Amazon now if you want. As we remember, a box of 12 is around 80 dollars. It’s almost double than the Ziploc, but you are getting 12 instead of 4.
We also like the look of it. Especially today, the more industrial look tends to win over plastic. I guess it’s a matter of taste. I don’t know how much taste is important in storage in general, but let’s leave it this way.
What we did not like about the book storage boxes
We will show you what we don’t like about these products in this paragraph. Watch all the details as these are sometimes deal breakers.
Negative aspects of the Ziploc WeatherShield 44 Quart
The thing that we don’t like about the Ziploc is definitely the price. It’s not a huge price, but it costs more than the Bankers Box. If you are into archiving files or books, and you have a lot of them, maybe the Bankers Box would be more suited cost wise.
The second thing that we don’t like or like, I am not even sure, is how the books will breathe. Yes, there is some talk in this sense that paper needs humidity and air. I still think that for me personally not inhaling what is in those books is more important. This can be a bit of a talking point, so we can leave it here.
Negative aspects of The Bankers Box Stor/File Heavy-Duty Storage Boxes
We don’t like 2 main things about the Bankers Box. The main one is my personal health and safety. If you have a storage space you are fine. If you don’t they will live inside next to you. I have worked with books and papers and they all smell horrible after a while. Therefore I prefer plastic that keeps them all locked up.
The second one is spill protection. While again, if you store them in archival conditions you will be fine. But for most of us, they will sit at home, next to a washing machine or even a sink maybe. So spill protection is very important. Therefore I would go for the plastic one.
Very important, if you have a totally separated space, you can choose the Bankers Box. It is more effective and won’t set you back price wise if you need a lot of them.
The conclusion about the archival boxes for books
- I guess it all comes down to budget and preferences. If you have a separate storage space and you want to store a lot of documents, go for the Bankers Box.
- If your place is small you will have to live next to those boxes. Protect yourself and the books inside and get the Ziploc WeatherShield.
- For us, as you probably read in the beginning, the Ziploc was the logical choice. This is the product we like and the product we have chosen as our winner.
If you would like to scan documents before you archive them in a box, check our article on the best document scanner.