Citing a need to remove books from libraries that are at least 95 percent full, the library system will begin moving books to a new off-site annex next spring.
The annex, just four miles away at 10 Park Lane in Providence, will replace storage space in Southboro, Mass. The University currently leases that space from Harvard University.
Initially, 250,000 books will be moved from the current Southboro location, said Eric Shoaf, head of the Library Preservation Department. Then, the libraries will continue moving about 50,000 volumes from on-campus libraries to the annex each year, depending on the growth rate.
The annex will have space for up to 1.7 million volumes. If it is filled, there is more space on the land Brown purchased to build a second building to house more books, Shoaf said.
The goal of the annex system is to get on-campus libraries down to what is called "working capacity," or 80 percent full.
Currently all libraries on campus are at 95 percent capacity or higher. Within a year, there should be a noticeable increase in shelf space at libraries across campus. The libraries should be at working capacity in five to six years.
The system of moving books offsite is one that has been employed by many library systems and universities. Brown had been storing books at Harvard's depository since 1992, and Harvard built that space in the 1980s to house overflow books from its libraries. Harvard currently has approximately 6 million volumes in storage. Brown currently has 3.2 million volumes in its entire system.
The Brown library system has spent the past five years planning for a new annex. The location was purchased four years ago, and Graphic Services has been using part of the building for a year and a half.
A lot of planning went into designing the new facility, including visits to other schools' depositories. Those visits included careful examination of annex operations to try to determine what worked well and what didn't, Shoaf said.
After thorough study, planners decided to employ a closed-stack system, because the books can then be catalogued by bar code and not by call number, as is traditional. It also allows for the use of high-density storage with 22.5-foot-tall stacks. The computerized bar code system ensures that virtually no books are lost, Shoaf said. Since Harvard opened its depository in the 1980s, it has lost only two of its 6 million books.
Library administrators are also paying considerable attention to selecting appropriate books to be sent to the annex, Shoaf said. No reference materials will be sent to the annex, because they are used frequently. Books circulated after 1980 will not be sent to the annex, either. At any time, if a book is requested repeatedly from the annex, it can be placed back in the on-campus stacks.
With the help of professors, planners laid out specific selection guidelines for each category of books, journals and other materials to determine what materials will be needed most for each discipline. All the selection criteria have been placed on the library Web site.
"Our selection guidelines - instead of being a blanket, we're trying to have them targeted more for these specific areas," Shoaf said.
Many students are still unaware of the libraries plans to move books off campus. "What is it, where is it, what's going on?" said Cristina Foung '07. As of now, library officials plan to run a publicity blitz once the opening date nears to remind members of the University community that some books will be moved off campus.
The biggest concern that planners have heard about is frustration over students being unable to see every book on the shelf, if some of them are housed at the annex, Shoaf said. "But if you're looking at the philosophy books, you're not looking at the philosophy oversized books - books can be checked out to study carrels, they can be checked out permanently to faculty offices, they can be just circulating to students for a few weeks," he said.
The library staff wants to encourage library users to try using the online catalog Josiah to browse instead. One feature allows students to see books near another book; volumes in a library are ordered by subject material, so using the Josiah feature to find nearby books will show relevant publications. And Josiah includes all the books, including oversized books and those currently checked out. "You get to see everything by searching online," Shoaf said.
Typically, once an annex is opened, most people like the system, Shoaf said.
"One thing we heard from everyone who has a storage facility was that after they get experience using it, their students and faculty really like ordering books from the storage facility. In fact, they say, 'I wish you could send all my books down there.' Because when you look up your book online and you get the call number and go walking along the stacks, you never know if you're going to find your book or not."
There are currently weekly deliveries to campus from the Harvard location. With the new location nearby, deliveries will be made daily. If a book request is placed in the afternoon, it will be on campus by the following afternoon.
Initially, book requests will only be filled five days a week. But as more books are moved and demand grows accordingly, book deliveries will occur every day.
The annex will be open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., so students can go directly to the annex to request a book. There will also be a reading room and Josiah terminal available on site for students who want to pick up books directly from the facility.
And having to wait for a book to arrive on campus might not be that much of a problem, Foung said. "I feel that most of the classes here that would have a major assignment requiring you to do a lot of research wouldn't have a same-day turnaround," she said. "One day doesn't seem that tragic."
