PURPOSE: To enable a device to smoothly execute the work controlling, picking up and returning a multiple quantity of articles in various kinds, by storing in memory the location information of an optionally returned storage article to be set and displayed.

CONSTITUTION: When a file storage vessel is returned, as the vessel moves identification data with a stage and series number is successively read by a bar-code scanner 44 and stored in a register part 102 through an input/output circuit 110 and a decoder 111, and the read new location information and the identification data are fed in accordance with a data output instruction to the data input/output circuit of a main control device 81 through an input/output circuit 100. A pick-up or a return action instruction and the location information from the main control device 81 are fed to an arithmetic control part 101, while the stage and the series number are stored in a display data buffer part 106. A rotary rack control part 104, to which the stage and the series number and the pick-up instruction are fed, moves the vessel to a return station position by picking up the assigned rack bed.