After months of debate regarding the overcrowded shelves at E.S. Bird Library, the Syracuse University Board of Trustees approved the library’s proposal to build South Campus Library Facility, a high-density storage facility to house the overflow of university materials, said Pamela McLaughlin, director of communications and external relations at Bird.

The facility will be located adjacent to the Hawkins Building on Jamesville Avenue. Construction is anticipated to be completed in 2012, according to a May 19 SU News release. McLaughlin said she expects the design-development phase of the project to begin immediately, but a contractor has not yet been hired.

The 20,000-square-foot building will hold approximately 1.6 million volumes, mainly consisting of low-use materials such as books, microforms, special collections and older volumes of journals, according to the release.

A processing area and conference room will also be available for students researching material housed in the facility, McLaughlin said. If a student wishes to see just one book, it will be delivered to Bird by the next day, McLaughlin said.

‘It’s an extra step in the process,’ she said. ‘However, it’s better for us to be able to contain those materials close by and have access to them than not. It’s almost as close as you can get to campus without being on campus.’

To maintain an ideal environment and extend the life of the materials, the heat and humidity of the building will be constantly controlled, according to the release.

Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University and Princeton University, among others, have also struggled with space issues in their libraries and constructed similar facilities to provide space for their collections’ growth, according to the release.

The SU Board of Trustees approved the project budget of $5 million, which will be used for all facets of construction, said Suzanne Thorin, dean of the library. The library is financing one-fifth of the project and the rest will be funded by the university, Thorin said.

Bird reached full capacity for materials several years ago and moved some collections to the Hawkins Building and The Warehouse downtown, according to the release. The library is currently 98 percent full and the shelving spaces at Hawkins and The Warehouse are also at full capacity, according to the release.

McLaughlin said the new facility will enable the library to maintain shelves at 75 percent capacity, which is standard in library management. The space will facilitate collection management and protect materials from damage, she said.

‘When you have a three-quarter full shelf you have the ability to actually interfile materials that have been used more easily, without shoving, compressing and damaging the materials,’ McLaughlin said. ‘It gives us flexibility in terms of being able to manage our collections.’

Both McLaughlin and Thorin said they believe building a new facility was the best option for the library because it preserves valuable research materials.

‘It’s important, as a research library, that we keep materials available,’ McLaughlin said. ‘You never know when a researcher is going to need a particular volume.’

egsawyer@syr.edu

Published on May 18, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer