Libraries Collections Preservation Facility

The Library Consolidation effort was undertaken in partnership with several academic departments to relocate dispersed collections located in small department libraries into larger locations offering robust services. This mutually beneficial effort allowed the repurposing of spaces previously occupied by the department libraries for academic programs and use, while also allowing the Libraries to concentrate print collections gain some efficiencies in the deployment of personnel and other resources, and adopt a holistic agenda in the planning of library spaces.  Examples of consolidated libraries include Geography, Astronomy, Math, Veterinary Medicine Reading Room, Learning Support Services, Social Science Reference Library, American Indian Studies Library, Ruth Ketterer Library in SoHE, etc.

The Library Facilities Master Plan was developed to provide a 20-25-year planning horizon to guide the development of library facilities and spaces over time. The plan allows the Libraries to project space needs not only for our growing collections, but also for supporting diverse research, teaching, and learning needs across campus.  As an enabling campus partner, the Libraries collaborate with FP&M and various campus entities to plan holistically and strategically for facilities and spaces for current and future needs.  While specific metrics were used for calibrating space projections for our print collections, the Libraries received robust feedback that has informed the Libraries about the importance of disciplinary differentiation and the development of a print management strategy that maximizes access to our collections and fosters the best practices in our stewardship of these invaluable collections.

The Library Collections Preservation Facility (LCPF) Is our recently funded project that enables the Libraries to establish a robust collection stewardship program that incorporates the preservation of various formats of collections, such as artifacts, media, microforms, etc. in a state-of-the-art facility with optimal environmental controls, while also providing the projected space capacity for the continued growth of our physical collections for the next 20 years. 

As can be noted, the above three efforts/projects are connected and provide a glimpse into the holistic approach needed for projecting and planning library facilities and spaces for the short term and long term, to ensure growth and stewardship of collections, while also serving as a resource to various research, teaching, and learning needs across the UW-Madison campus.

The Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration identified one-time funding to support the construction of the $33 million Libraries Collections Preservation Facility. This opportunity serves as a crucial enabling project to address several significant space needs across campus.

• This facility is an enabling project that will address deferred maintenance and other smaller, more fundable projects in other buildings sooner – and do so through a one-time capital investment.
• This will get rare and unique materials into a more environmentally and security-controlled building. There will be some archival and special collections materials transitioned to this new space for preservation purposes.
• High-density shelving is considered an industry best practice in both preservation and the ability to enhance efficient collection management and delivery. The UW is far behind its peer institutions in utilizing this practice.
• This will help address space utilization concerns and will free up space on campus where we are storing materials that could be used for active academic and research purposes.

Summer 2022

• Architect and Engineering (A/E) construction design put out for bid

September 2022 

• Select A/E firm 

Fall 2022- Fall 2023

• Libraries project team works with A/E and FP&M to design the facility (9-12 months)

December 2023 

• Building construction project put out to bid 

Early 2024

• Construction tentative start, Substantial completion May 2025

Summer 2025  (or later)

• Facility ready to receive materials

Items selected for the LCPF will be prepared by Libraries staff and moved by specialty movers. Careful attention will be paid to the accuracy of the catalog descriptions for each item. The utmost care will be taken with all items being transferred to the LCPF in order to ensure that items arrive at the new facility in the same condition in which they left campus. Once items arrive at the LCPF, they will be moved to their new shelving/storage location by Libraries staff members.

The new facility will be 38,160-square-foot and will quadruple the amount of shelving space currently available at our adjacent 10,000-square-foot shelving facility located at the Materials Distribution Services (MDS) building in Verona. The new facility will also be located at MDS as an attachment to the current Verona Shelving Facility.

The new facility will provide preservation-standard environmental controls, currently lacking in our other shelving facility and in our on-campus library spaces. The new space will include purpose-built staff space, a loading dock, and multiple environments to address the different controls needed to preserve the variety of collections it will serve – from manuscripts to film and tape media to artwork. In addition to providing preservation-standard environmental controls, the new facility will store print media using the Harvard Shelving Method. This means that items will be more efficiently stored by their size rather than grouped by subject matter like in other library facilities.

Most materials will be delivered to campus libraries as requested for ease of access. In some cases, if a request is made in advance, materials can be reviewed at the LCPF in a visitor’s room, provided for that purpose. Due to the shelving method that will be implemented and the height of the shelving. LCPF will not be an open browsing facility like other campus library locations.

• Special and distinctive collections valued at over $1 billion, such as film, audio recordings, rare books, archival materials, and art, as well as nearly 2 million other at-risk physical volumes.
• In general, the current Libraries’ facilities, which hold over $2.4 billion in collections, lack proper preservation-standard environmental controls to house the at-risk collections of film, audiotape, art, and materials that make up a notable proportion of our physical collections.

• UW-Madison Libraries occupy 30+ campus locations / 750,000 square feet
• This is an opportunity to give 75,000 SF of space back to campus for other use and/or as Libraries’ renovation opportunities.
• The new offsite facility will be high-density and preservation quality, which adheres to the UW System expectation of net-zero growth on campus, using less space in a different location while giving back about double that space on campus to be used for other much-needed teachings, learning, and research activities. This is achieved because of high-density shelving.

College Library is a popular location for course reserve materials, which are accessible by users 24 hours a day, five nights a week, with late evening weekend hours as well.

College Library will remain an important pick-up site for course reserve materials. Libraries Collections is working closely with the LCPF Core Team on outreach efforts to engage faculty in discussions regarding materials used for research and teaching.

The Libraries are deeply committed to engaging in ongoing and large-scale discussions with faculty and other campus partners to help evaluate which materials are most appropriately held in the new facility. 

Libraries will continue to apprise the campus community of the progress, and once in use, will share the impacts and benefits of the facility on the overall Libraries agenda for collections stewardship and use of spaces to enhance the academic experience of our campus community. 

Liaison librarians have been briefed on the project status and are going to be working with the project team and communications to ensure consistent and frequent communication takes place with faculty across campus.

The Libraries will be working with the campus community – faculty, students, staff, and other researchers, to assess which materials would benefit from being transferred to an environment with enhanced preservation conditions.

Some collections that have low or no documented use, will be moved to the new facility to make room for new materials on campus.  In addition, selected materials from special collections and archives, and collections in closed-stack storage, which already require staff mediation for retrieval, will also be transitioned.

• Sometimes we hold the only complete physical copy of something, and it is an expectation we maintain that item and preserve it in its original form for future research. 
• Materials are complicated and digitization doesn’t always capture the research value of materials.
• We cannot possibly scan all of our books and archival materials. No library will ever have the staffing resources to do that.

Yes, circulating items can be requested in advance to be viewed on-site at the LCPF or to be delivered to another UW Library location for pick up. Non-circulating collections, such as archival and rare collections, can be requested to be used onsite at the appropriate location. The Verona site is already a stop on the delivery truck route. As a result, requested items will take no longer to arrive at the requested location than materials requested from another campus facility, and there will be no known additional environmental impacts resulting from this delivery route.

There are a variety of ways that research is supported at UW-Madison, including but not limited to individual consultation with highly trained personnel. Schedule an appointment to ensure availability.

Materials at the LCPF and other library locations are picked up on a daily basis. UW Library facilities prioritize internal requests for materials in order to prepare them for delivery to another campus location. A dedicated vehicle circulates items across campus each weekday. Items requested from other Big10 universities are handled as a priority request by our Big10 partners and join thousands of other items being shared across institutions.

Faculty/instructors should work with the Curricular Content Librarian to request reserve placement of LCPF materials on reserve.