Higher and lower availability prioritization of storage cells in an automated library

A computer program product for operationally prioritizing the hierarchy of storage areas of an automated library having a plurality of storage cells, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a controller to cause the controller to:

• designate, by the controller, a first set of storage cells as higher availability cells;
• designate, by the controller, a second set of storage cells as lower availability cells;
• wherein each of the storage cells is configured to receive and store cartridges via one or more accessors,
• wherein each of the one or more accessors is assigned a servicing location corresponding to at least some of the lower availability cells;
• and
• correlate, by the controller, a first cartridge with at least one of the higher availability cells and a second cartridge with at least one of the lower availability cells using at least one of a first procedure and a second procedure;
• wherein the first procedure includes:
• assigning the first cartridge to a first logical library to which at least one of the higher availability cells is allocated,
• assigning the second cartridge to a second logical library to which at least one of the lower availability cells is allocated;
• wherein the second procedure includes:
• assessing previous usage of each cartridge,
• determining whether the cartridge should be assigned to one of the higher availability cells or one of the lower availability cells based on the assessing.

A method of operationally prioritizing the hierarchy of storage areas of an automated library having a plurality of storage cells, the method comprising:

• designating a first set of storage cells as higher availability cells;
• designating a second set of storage cells as lower availability cells;
• wherein each of the storage cells is configured to receive and store one or more cartridges via one or more accessors,
• wherein each of the one or more accessors is assigned a servicing location corresponding to at least some of the lower availability cells;
• defining a first logical library to which at least one of the higher availability cells is allocated;
• defining a second logical library to which at least one of the lower availability cells is allocated;
• assigning a first cartridge to the first logical library;
• and
• assigning a second cartridge to the second logical library.