A new library storage facility will soon house excess books and special archival collections, Facilities Management officials said.
The Severn Library will be a 21,000-square-foot, warehouse-like storage room located inside the Severn Building, about a mile from the campus.
The four-story library will be “a box inside a box,” said Bill Olen, interim executive director of planning and construction. Officials hope to begin storing items in the $6.9 million building by the beginning of next year, with construction scheduled to start in late February.
The 1.5 percent budget cut to the University Libraries’ funds announced last year won’t affect this project, said Daniel Mack, associate dean of collections.
“The funding for this was appropriated by the Maryland state legislature a couple years ago,” Mack said. “I think the appropriation went through in 2013 before the budget cuts. So the money’s there.”
The facility is expected to hold roughly 2.5 million books in compact bins once complete, said Patricia Steele, libraries dean. Vertical shelves will store extra books and items that cannot be kept in on-campus locations, including some from the Special Collections and University Archives at Hornbake Library.
“This is a strategic investment that allows us to house items that need special security to ensure their survival,” Steele said.
The building will be kept at a low temperature with monitored humidity levels to keep the items in good condition.
In this environment, older, delicate books will remain in top condition for 200 to 500 years, Steele said. The paper pages won’t become brown or brittle, mold will not be able to grow, and the bookcases will hold together well, she added.
Previously, Steele said, the University of Maryland’s rare books were stored in other areas, including rented space at Johns Hopkins University’s remote library storage facility in Laurel. But as space became more limited and more books came into this university’s possession, library officials decided to invest in a closer alternative.
The new space will also serve as room for McKeldin Library’s overflow. As it fills up, library officials will move less popular books or books that are available digitally to the Severn Library, Mack said.
Students will be able to request books from the facility, and while the checkout system is still being finalized, they will receive the book or scan within 24 hours, he said.
The extra space will also allow McKeldin Library to expand and add more “technologically rich space,” Mack said, with room for new research spaces like the Terrapin Learning Commons.
“Students, faculty, librarians and other researchers can collaborate on accessing both our digital and print collections [at these new spaces],” Mack said. “We’re not taking all of the books and sending them away. We’re going to be careful with deciding what goes to Severn and what stays for in-house use.”
