Shelving Facilities

Our library collections are vital to the teaching and research mission of our university. As we continue to expand our collections, adding over a mile of books and journals per year on average, we continue to need space to shelve these materials.

Now more than ever libraries are being called upon to be more than just repositories for physical collections. The UW-Madison campus has identified around 30,000 square feet of library space that could be immediately renovated for updated library services, study spaces, and computer-enhanced learning facilities if alternative space for shelving could be made available. Our existing and future shelving facilities and partnerships will allow our libraries to meet the current needs of our patrons, while upholding a dedication to increasing and maintaining our collections.

Off-site shelving facilities have been in existence for over 20 years at many major academic universities, allowing us to learn from their experiences and successes. Our goal is to not limit or prohibit access, but to allow for expansion and repurposing of space while providing the best access possible to our collections. Decisions relating to relocating titles to one of our shelving facilities are based on the UW-Madison Libraries Campus Collections Plan.

The libraries currently have two closed stacks shelving facilities. The Science Shelving Facility is located in the basement of Steenbock Library and houses many old STEM specific titles. The Verona Shelving Facility is our new off-campus shelving facility and will be completed in 2014. It will include a wide-variety of materials from campus libraries. Since both facilities are closed to the public, users will need to use our campus request services to obtain titles from these locations. Instructions for this can be found online.

For general questions regarding our UW-Madison Shelving Facilities and other shared facilities, contact our Space Management and Shelving Group at spsg-lib@lists.wisc.edu.

For questions regarding obtaining materials from the UW-Madison Shelving Facilities, please contact one of our Reference Departments or look for an answer at our FAQ.