Libraries and Printed Books

Turning a Page: Downsizing the Campus Book Collections

Donald Barclay | August 19, 2015

When, in 2005, the University of Chicago entered into a US$81 million renovation of a major library building, one of the primary goals was to ensure that the university’s collection of printed books in the social sciences and humanities would remain under one roof.

The MVRDV-designed Book Mountain public library features a huge glass and timber outer shell. Source: http://www.gizmag.com/book-mountain-mvrdv-designed-public-library/24759/ 

That goal was achieved six years later. However, it also meant that a good part of the library’s print collection, while technically being “under the library roof,” was moved “under the ground.” The renovation included a subterranean automated system that can store and retrieve up to 3.5 million books.

<more at https://theconversation.com/turning-a-page-downsizing-the-campus-book-collections-45808; related link: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/do-school-libraries-need-books/?_r=0 (Do School Libraries Need Books? February 10, 2010) and http://blog.archive.org/2011/06/06/why-preserve-books-the-new-physical-archive-of-the-internet-archive/ (Why Preserve Books? The New Physical Archive of the Internet Archive. June 6, 2011)>